We must not give in to EU on citizens’ rights

Only now is it becoming clear to MPS what the EU’S Brexit transition arrangements require. On Monday, the Commission set out guidelines for a “status quo” period lasting until the end of 2020. This would include the UK agreeing to new EU laws and accepting freedom of movement during that time. Under the agreement reached with the EU before Christmas, it had been envisaged that EU citizens arriving after Brexit in March 2019 would not gain automatic residency rights. But the Commission, pressured by Poland, has hardened its position and now insists that all arrivals during transition will have the same rights as those already here.

At no stage did the UK say there would be unqualified free movement during what Ministers prefer to call the implementation period, since at that point we would be outside the EU and able to decide these things for ourselves. To that end, it is crucial that the Government publishes its immigration policy for Brexit, which has been held up for months, a delay that is contributing to the uncertainty over future numbers.

The December agreement set out arrangements to cover the rights of citizens legally residing in the UK “by the specified date”. It added: “The specified date should be the time of the UK’S withdrawal.” It was known then that the UK would be seeking a transition period and there was no suggestion that the EU would demand similar rights for citizens arriving during that time.

There is an argument for accepting we are staying in the EU in all but name until 2020, and to focus political energies on what happens next. But, equally, this second phase is supposed to be a negotiation; and simply accepting everything the EU wants is not a good bargaining tactic.

Britain has promised to pay £39 billion to the EU for the period up to the end of transition, but “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”. Europe wants the Withdrawal Agreement and arrangements for transition formally and legally tied up by the end of March.

The cut-off date for full citizens’ rights was always intended to be Brexit Day, and those arriving during transition should be subject to a registration scheme with no more long-term rights than any other foreign national. Theresa May is right to insist that this agreement must be adhered to. If not, the UK would be entitled to withdraw its financial offer from the table.