‘UK wanted to resolve expat rights’

EU immigration surged before Brexit referendum Bid to boost investors hopes

LONDON, Dec 1, (Agencies): Britain would have liked to quickly resolve the issue of post-Brexit rights of European Union nationals in Britain but needs the bloc’s agreement on the reciprocal rights of Britons in the EU, Brexit minister David Davis said on Wednesday.

The EU earlier this week rebuffed a call from pro-Brexit British lawmakers for a quick deal on mutual residence rights for British and EU expatriates, saying it had to wait until full-blown divorce talks began.

“If were up to us we would have this resolved in months but we have to get the agreement of the European Union too,” Davis said, adding that Britain had a responsibility to protect the rights of its citizens by not agreeing to a nonreciprocal deal.

Davis also said that the outcome of a court appeal over whether parliament’s approval is needed to begin formal Brexit talks may impact any bill the government eventually has to introduce.

The BBC reported last month that the government had prepared a bill of just three lines which it believed would be “bomb-proof” against amendments by lawmakers who may try and add conditions to the approval.

“On the question of the court case, it isn’t just a yes or no outcome ... the actual nature of the bill may be influenced by the outcome,” Davis said.

During the same question session in parliament, junior Brexit minister David Jones said it was “extremely difficult” to see how one part of the United Kingdom could remain part of the single market if the rest did not.

Britain’s pro-Brexit foreign minister, Boris Johnson, has told at least four European Union ambassadors that he personally favours free movement with the bloc, Sky News said Wednesday.

The remarks are “incendiary,” as they imply the country’s top diplomat and a prominent “Leave” campaigner is saying one thing in public and the opposite in private, it said.

Sky quoted four ambassadors as saying Johnson privately told them he supports freedom of movement, a key point of contention in Britain’s divorce from the EU.

“Boris Johnson has been openly telling us that he is personally in favour of free movement,” one diplomat was quoted as saying. All the sources spoke on condition of anonymity, the report said.

The view was backed by another EU ambassador quoted by Sky News: LONDON, Dec 1, (AFP): Britain would consider paying for continued access to the European single market after it leaves the EU, a senior minister said Thursday, boosting investors’ hopes of a “soft Brexit”.

The minister for exiting the EU, David Davis, was asked in parliament whether the government would consider making “any contribution in any shape or form for access to the single market” after it withdraws from the bloc.

Davis replied: “There is a distinction between picking off an individual policy and setting out a major criteria, and the major criteria here is that we get the best possible access for goods and services to the European market.

“If that is included in what you are talking about then of course we would consider it.”

Davis and other top Brexit supporters campaigned to stop payments to the EU during the campaign ahead of the June referendum, making it into a top slogan.

The pound rallied on Davis’s comments against both the euro and the dollar, amid hopes that

“(Johnson) told us he was personally in favour of it, but he said that Britain had been more affected by free movement of people than other EU member states.”

“He did say he was personally in favour of free movement, as it corresponds to his own beliefs. But he said it wasn’t government policy,” a third ambassador reportedly told the news outlet.

Another ambassador corroborated the comments and said Johnson was speaking at an ambassadors’ lunch, Sky News said.

A fifth ambassador interviewed said he did not hear Johnson make such comments, remarking the British foreign minister lacked credibility and claiming diplomats “don’t care what he says”.

The former mayor of London, Johnson was a key backer in the campaign to leave the EU and was appointed foreign minister after the June 23 referendum in which the UK voted in favour of Brexit. Britain could continue existing ties with its largest trading partner.

“Sterling is on the tear this morning on hopes for a soft Brexit,” said Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital.

“David Davis said the UK could contribute to the EU budget in return for access to markets and that has fuelled a rally for the pound.”

Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokeswoman denied a change in strategy, saying London had long argued that “it will be for the UK government to make decisions on how taxpayers’ money will be spent”.

She added: “All these issues will be a matter for the negotiation.”

Davis also confirmed that the government would seek to agree both its exit terms and future trade arrangements within the two-year withdrawal process.

“We want to see them both done in parallel inside the two years,” he said.

The government has said it intends to give formal notification of its intention to leave the EU by the end of March, setting off a two-year countdown to the divorce.

The successful anti-EU campaign focussed largely on stopping immigration from the other 27 member states.

Nick Clegg, former deputy prime minister, criticised Johnson for appearing to air a different opinion privately to that which his used on the pro-Brexit campaign trail.

Meanwhile, a record 284,000 EU citizens arrived in Britain in the year to June when the Brexit referendum was held, with a particularly high number coming from Romania and Bulgaria, official data showed on Thursday.

There has also been a sharp increase in applications for citizenship by EU migrants since the Brexit vote, while Ireland said there had been a spike in Britons with Irish ancestry getting passports.

Net migration to Britain -- the total of all migrant arrivals minus departures -- was at a near-record of 335,000, far above the government’s target of 100,000.