Brussels ‘could veto UK’s deal’
THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator has warned it could veto any final deal, after condemning Britain’s offer to EU citizens living here as a ‘damp squib’.
Guy Verhofstadt claimed the offer was casting a ‘dark cloud’ over three million Europeans in the UK – and risked creating a ‘second-class citizenship’.
He also said it was less generous than the EU’s offer to Britons living on the continent. His remarks came with a threat that the European Parliament would veto the Brexit deal if MEPs were not satisfied.
The issue of the rights of EU citizens in the UK – and Britons in Europe – is one of the first tasks facing negotiators. Mrs May has offered to give EU nationals who choose to stay the same rights as Britons.
Mr Verhofstadt wrote in the Guardian: ‘The European Parliament will reserve its right to reject any agreement that treats EU citizens, regardless of their nationality, less favourably than they are at present.’
SO much for the promise of grown-up dialogue with the European Parliament over the terms of Brexit.
We’re only at the first hurdle – what should be a straightforward affirmation of the rights of EU citizens living in the UK and UK citizens in the EU – and already chief negotiator Guy Verhofstadt has thrown his toys out of the pram.
To any fair-minded observer, the British proposal should seem eminently reasonable. All EU nationals resident here for five years or more would be entitled to ‘settled status’ and be able to bring over spouses and children. All entitlements to work, study, and receive health and welfare benefits would remain unchanged.
Those who have been here for a shorter time would be allowed to stay as now, then apply for settled status after five years. Indeed, even those coming after the Brexit cut-off date (which is yet to be decided) would be allowed to stay in order to ‘regularise’ their residency status.
Yet Mr Verhofstadt indignantly claims this is ‘second-class citizenship’. He and other MEPs have written a petulant letter to newspapers branding the proposal ‘a damp squib’ and threatening to hold up the negotiating process by rejecting it. They say it is a denial of fundamental rights.
What the Brussels elite seems unable to grasp is that while Britain is absolutely committed to playing fair by EU nationals living here, free movement and unconditional residency will soon be over.
After Brexit, Britain will again be a sovereign nation, with our own basic immigration controls and residency requirements. The British people voted in the referendum to take back control of borders and that is what our negotiators must do.
Figures released yesterday give an idea of why so many people believe migration into Britain needs to be controlled.
There are now 255,000 East European children living in Britain (as well as around 1.2million adults). This has placed enormous pressure on housing, schools and the NHS.
With annual net migration still running at around 280,000 – an increase in population equivalent to a city the size of Newcastle every year – how long before our public services are unable to cope?