EU citizens get ‘lifelong right to return’

BRITAIN is preparing to offer millions of EU migrants the ‘lifelong’ right to return to the UK after Brexit – even if they leave the country for years.

The plan is part of a ‘trade-off’ in return for British citizens living on the continent being allowed ‘unlimited’ movement across the EU after Brexit day. It emerged during a European Parliament debate yesterday in which it was claimed Downing Street is ‘ready to go for’ the deal.

There are currently around 3.5million EU citizens living in the UK, compared with 00,000 Britons in the rest of the bloc. As it stands in the draft withdrawal agreement, EU citizens will be given settled status after Brexit, but would lose such rights if they left Britain for five years or more. However, under the new plan, EU citizens would have the ‘lifelong’ right to return to Britain regardless of how long they are away.

Critics last night blasted the plan, saying it amounted to ‘open-ended free movement’ and contradicted the Government’s pledge to introduce a post-Brexit immigration system based on skills.

Labour MP Kate Hoey said: ‘My view remains that when we leave the EU, EU citizens cannot be treated any differently than citizens of the rest of the world, and this measure would be doing so.

‘I do not believe this is what people voted for. The Government must stop giving in to EU demands.’

Tory MP Philip Davies said: ‘It seems the Prime Minister will agree to anything to do a Brexit deal.

Previously, the withdrawal agreement had stated that UK citizens would have to remain in the country they were in after Brexit. But this passage has been removed, paving the way for a deal allowing them to move throughout the EU’s 27 member states. The proposal was revealed by the European Parliament’s Brexit spokesman Guy Verhofstadt as he urged EU Council president Donald Tusk to agree the deal during a debate in Strasbourg.

Mr Verhofstadt visited No10 last month. A source familiar with the visit said the plan had been discussed with both Theresa May and Home Secretary Sajid Javid and that the MEP had left feeling ‘upbeat’.

Updating MEPs on last week’s EU summit, Mr Tusk also claimed it was Mrs May who originally proposed the possibility of extending the post-Brexit transition period beyond 2020 – despite her public claims she is opposed to the move.