A Labour Brexit campaigner will lead a cross-party probe on the EU nationals “left in limbo” following the June referendum
Labour MP and Brexit campaigner Gisela Stuart will chair a new cross-party inquiry into rights that could be granted to EU nationals living in the UK after Britain splits from the EU.
Stuart will lead the work for think tank British Future, working with representatives from the Conservatives and Ukip, as well as the Institute of Directors' head of employment and skills policy, Seamus Nevin, and TUC EU department boss Owen Tudor.
Tory Suella Fernandes, former Ukip deputy chair Suzanne Evans, Labour's Kate Green – currently chairing Owen Smith's leadership campaign – and Spectator editor Fraser Nelson will also contribute.
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Theresa May has already indicated she would grant residency rights to EU nationals currently in the UK if European states agree to do the same, but Stuart said today that approach was leaving UK-based Europeans “in limbo”.
“There is wide agreement among the public, politicians and business, that EU citizens are welcome here and that the government should make clear they can stay,” Stuart said.
“This is the right thing to do and what the Leave campaign promised all along. We must honour that promise and we should do it soon – it’s not right that people are left in limbo waiting to hear what their future holds.”
The inquiry will look at what specific legal status could be granted to EU nationals, how to manage transition dates for any change and the implications for migration flows ahead of reform.
It will also ask how EU citizens could be asked to prove UK residency, and what rights they should retain to healthcare and welfare.