Theresa May today made a grand overture to urge EU nationals living in Britain not leave after Brexit by telling them directly ‘I want you to stay’.
The PM scrambled to try to win over Europeans who have moved to the UK by sayings she understands their ‘underlying anxiety’ at their future when we quit the bloc.
She said she is ‘delighted’ to have come back from Brussels with a pledge to guarantee the rights of EU nationals living in Britain.
In an open letter to EU nationals, she said she was ‘proud’ they had chosen to live in the UK and that she wanted them to stay after Brexit on the terms agreed in Brussels.
The missive is a follow-up to one sent by the Prime Minister in October when she told the 3.3million Europeans living in Britain they would be allowed to stay regardless of the outcome of talks.
The letter was released as Mrs May was grilled by MPs on the terms of her divorce deal in a marathon session at the Commons Despatch Box.
Theresa May (pictured in the House of Commons today) scrambled to try to win over Europeans who have moved to the UK by sayings he understands their ‘underlying anxiety’ at their future when we quit the bloc
In an open letter to EU nationals (pictured) Mrs May said she was ‘proud’ they had chosen to live in the UK
In the letter to EU citizens, the PM wrote: ‘I greatly value the depth of the contributions you make – enriching every part of our economy, our society, our culture and our national life.
‘I know our country would be poorer if you left and I want you to stay.’
She told EU citizens their rights would be written into UK law through a Withdrawal Agreement and Implementation Bill.
And she said that – controversially – their rights will be guaranteed by the European Court of Justice for eight years.
She pledged that a new system to apply for settled status would be up and running next year and cost £72.50 for a standard adult version.
Mrs May went on: ‘So right now, you do not have to do anything at all.
‘You can look forward, safe in the knowledge that there is now a detailed agreement on the table in which the UK and the EU have set out how we intend to preserve your rights – as well as the rights of UK nationals living in EU countries.
‘For we have ensured that these negotiations put people first. That is what I promised to do and that is what I will continue to do at every stage of this process.
‘I wish you and all your families a great Christmas and a very happy New Year.’
Earlier, Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borissov said he would raise the issue of citizens’ rights during talks with Mrs May in Number 10.
“We will have the opportunity to speak about Bulgarian representatives who have been residing in Great Britain for over five years, about preserving and maintaining their lifestyle in spite of Brexit obviously taking place,” he said as he met the Prime Minister in Downing Street.
Mrs May held talks with the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Boyko Borissov, at Downing Street today as she turned diplomatic efforts to the next phase of talks
The Prime Minister greeted her Bulgarian counterpart in a soggy Downing Street ahead of their bilateral talks this morning
Mrs May finally managed to get EU leaders to sign up to her Brexit deal and move on to trade talks on Friday – days after her initial plans were torpedoes by the DUP.
But some Brexiteers warned they were deeply unhappy that European judges would still be able to hold sway over Britain for a decade after we quit the EU.
While the deal also allowed EU nationals to bring their spouses, parents, grandparents, children and grandchildren, who do not live in the UK, to join them in the future.
And this will extend to future spouses of EU citizens even if they are not yet together.
In the Commons this afternoon, Mrs May came under fire from Tory Brexiteers today as she defended her EU divorce deal.
Mrs May insisted the £39billion divorce bill showed the UK was taking ‘responsibility’ and meant the taxpayer would soon see ‘significant savings’ that could be pumped back into key public services
Conservative backbencher Philip Davies told Mrs May: ‘She said there had been give and take in this negotiation and she is absolutely right – we are giving the EU tens of billions of pounds and they are taking it.’
David Davis and Boris Johnson were in the Commons to hear the PM’s statement today
The PM faced a grilling in the Commons on why she had agreed to hand over up to £39billion to Brussels when the country was still going through austerity.
Conservative backbencher Philip Davies told Mrs May: ‘She said there had been give and take in this negotiation and she is absolutely right – we are giving the EU tens of billions of pounds and they are taking it.’
The PM insisted the government was taking ‘responsibility’ and insisted the taxpayer would soon see ‘significant savings’ that could be pumped into key public services.
She also made clear the payment would be ‘off the table’ if a trade agreement with the EU was not reached
The clashes came as Mrs May was forced to move to appease anger in Dublin after David Davis played down the effect of the painstakingly-assembled deal and suggested it would not be ‘legally enforceable’.
The Brexit Secretary was embarrassingly sent out this morning to correct his comments – promising that Britain would stand by the arrangements and they were ‘more than legally enforceable’.
The climbdown appears to have defused the row for the time being, with Irish PM Leo Varadkar – who previously insisted the agreement is ‘bullet proof’ – saying he was ‘very happy with the clarification’.
The government is desperate to paper over the cracks at least until after a crucial EU summit later this week, when the bloc’s leaders will decide whether to approve the start of trade talks.
Amid fears that the deal has already tied us into ‘soft’ Brexit, Mrs May told the House that powers over ‘borders, money and laws’ would be reclaimed.
She was given the benefit of the doubt by many Tory MPs concerned about derailing the Brexit process altogether, but some still voiced significant misgivings about the divorce deal and trade commitments.
Mrs May also had to deny a suggestion from another Tory, Mike Wood, that the UK could face ‘punishment payments’ in future.
Mrs May said she had never pretended Brexit would be an ‘easy process’.
‘It has required give and take for the UK and the EU to move forward together. And that is what we have done,’ she said.
Theresa May and EU Commission President Jean Claude Juncker, pictured in Brussels on Friday, agreed that sufficient progress has been made on EU citizens rights, the divorce bill and the Irish border to move on to the all-important trade talks. The leaders of the EU 27 members states will decide whether to sign it off at a summit on Friday
She insisted that the settlement on a divorce bill of around £39billion represented the UK acting ‘responsibly’.
It will mean that soon the government will be sending less to Brussels and would have ‘more money to spend on our priorities at home’ – such as housing, schools and the NHS.
The PM also warned that the payment would be ‘off the table’ if a trade agreement with the EU was not reached.
LABOUR WOULD KEEP BRITAIN IN THE SINGLE MARKET AFTER BREXIT JOHN MCDONNELL SAYS
John McDonnell pictured in the City of London today, said Labour would try to keep Britain in a reformed single market in a fresh signal of the party is trying to push for a so-called soft Brexit
Labour’s position on Brexit was plunged into fresh confusion today after John McDonnell said they would try to stay in the single market – contradicting an earlier pledge to leave.
The shadow chancellor ruled out staying in the single market in June as it would mean keeping free movement rules.
But today he said Labour would try to keep Britain in a reformed single market in a fresh signal of the party is trying to push for a so-called soft Brexit.
He said a Labour in government would seek a ‘negotiated relationship’ to ensure ‘tariff-free access’ to ‘a single market’ and ‘a customs union’.
Mr McDonnell said: ‘What I said is that remaining within the single market would not respect the referendum result.
‘What we’ve been using as the phraseology, a single market, not the single market, and a customs union not the customs union, so therefore a reformed single market or a new negotiated relationship with the single market – and (Sir) Keir was actually putting our position yesterday.’
His comments come after Labour’s Brexit spokesman Sir Keir Starmer said Britain should accept ‘easy migration’ from Europe, swallow EU laws and carry on paying billions to Brussels after Brexit.
The Labour frontbencher suggested the concessions were the necessary price for a trade deal.
He also refused to rule out offering voters a second referendum on whether Britain should leave at all.
Appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday, Sir Keir said Britain should ‘stay aligned’ to the EU after Brexit to preserve the benefits of the single market and customs union.
He indicated that the UK could mimic Norway’s arrangement with the EU, which involves accepting single market rules and paying a contribution to EU coffers.
The House of Commons library estimates that Norway pays, per capita, about 80 per cent of the UK’s contribution.
That could leave Britain with an annual bill of about £8 billion. Sir Keir said staying close to the single market and customs union was necessary to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland.
The Labour frontbencher said freedom of movement rules would ‘have to be negotiated’, but added: ‘The end of free movement doesn’t mean no movement.
‘Of course we would want people to come from the European Union to work here, we would want people who are here to go and work in the EU – the basis of that would have to be negotiated.’
Asked if this would mean ‘easy movement’, if not free, he said: ‘Yes, of course.’
He was immediately accused of trying to ‘betray’ voters by failing to honour the referendum result.
Brexit Secretary David Davis said the Labour MP would ‘take us back to square one’ and fail to get back control of Britain’s laws, borders and money.
Mr Davis said: ‘Keir Starmer could not have been clearer about what the consequences of Labour’s chaotic approach to Brexit would be.
‘A Labour Brexit would mean billions of pounds going to the EU in perpetuity, the UK being forced to obey rules over which we have no say and zero control over our borders.
‘A Labour Brexit would betray voters and leave this country in the worst possible position.’