May defiant on ‘£1bn NHS bill for expats’

THERESA May defended her decision not to trade away the rights of British expats in Europe yesterday, as a report warned they could rack up health costs of £1billion a year.

The Nuffield Trust warned that if all the British pensioners who currently receive health care in other countries through EU agreements had to return, caring for them would hit the NHS with a major bill.

The health charity said the £1billion cost is twice the amount currently spent for them to receive care abroad.

The Prime Minister has faced criticism from Labour for failing to unilaterally guarantee the rights of 3.2million EU citizens living in this country.

But yesterday, she said the report underlined the need to get a deal that also protected the rights of 1.2million Britons living in Europe. Mrs May said it showed ‘why it is so important we haven’t just given those rights to EU citizens here in the UK’.

During a visit to Plymouth, she said: ‘From day one as Prime Minister I’ve been clear that I want to ensure we are supporting and looking after British people.

‘If we are looking at people who are living in the European Union, I’m clear that I want to see an agreement where their rights are protected.

‘Of course, it is reciprocal for EU citizens living here in the UK.

‘But it is why it is so important we haven’t just given those rights to EU citizens here in the UK.

‘We are looking after UK citizens living in the European Union.’

The Nuffield Trust report also said that if the NHS needed to care for those who currently receive care abroad, it would need a significantly higher number of hospital beds – the equivalent of two new hospitals.