Connect with us

Brexit

UK MPs warn of #Brexit migrant 'spike'

SHARE:

Published

on

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. You can unsubscribe at any time.

brexit-HEROThere could be a spike in UK migration ahead of Britain's withdrawal from the European Union and the possible end to free movement rights, MPs have warned.

The Home Affairs Committee urged the government to state an "effective cut-off date" for when EU citizens in the UK would be granted the right to stay.

It added there could be fresh delays and backlogs in the immigration system if more people tried to enter the UK.

Ministers said it would be "wrong" to set out details before exit talks.

The government has confirmed it will seek curbs on free movement rules that currently give EU nationals the right to live and work in other member states. But it has said it is not possible to give a firm guarantee about the status of EU nationals currently living in the UK without a reciprocal pledge from other nations about British nationals living on the continent.

The committee's report said the outcome of the 23 June referendum, in which Britain voted to leave the EU, had placed EU nationals living in the UK "in a potentially very difficult and uncertain position".

"Past experience has shown that previous attempts to tighten immigration rules have led to a spike in immigration prior to the rules coming into force," the MPs said.

Advertisement

"EU citizens living and working in the UK must be told where they stand in relation to the UK leaving the EU and they should not be used as bargaining chips in the negotiations."

Share this article:

EU Reporter publishes articles from a variety of outside sources which express a wide range of viewpoints. The positions taken in these articles are not necessarily those of EU Reporter.

Trending