EU citizens may be blocked from remaining in the UK permanently even if they arrive before the country leaves the EU, David Davis has said.
The newly appointed Brexit minister said that if a large number of EU migrants enter the UK before the withdrawal from the bloc is completed, they may not be granted leave to remain in the country.
“We may have to deal with that. There are a variety of possibilities. We may have to say that the right to indefinite leave to remain protection only applies before a certain date. But you have to make those judgments on reality, not speculation,” Davis told the Mail on Sunday.
Britain is bound to observe the freedom of movement rules of the EU, which require it to grant migrants from European countries the right to live and work in the UK, until it has formally exited the union.
Davis said he was committed to securing a good deal for any Brits living in EU countries, as well as the approximately 3mn EU migrants currently living in the UK. “We mustn’t, if we can possibly avoid it, penalise them,” he said on Sky’s Murnaghan on Sunday programme.
“Number one, I want to see a generous settlement for the people who are here already – they didn’t pick this circumstance, we did,” he told Murnaghan. “We want to do that at the same time that we get a similarly generous settlement for Brits living in the EU.
“Some people have said if we make a very generous settlement, as we intend to do, we might see a rush of people. Let’s deal with that issue when we come to it. One way to do that is that only people who arrive before a certain date will get this protection.”
Davis would not be drawn about when a potential cut-off date could be, saying that to give a date would cause a surge. However, he reiterated the intention of the government to trigger Article 50 early in 2017, meaning the UK would formally exit the EU in early 2019.
The government is trying to paint a hopeful picture of Britain’s future post-Brexit, and received a boost on Saturday when Australia’s Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, called for a free trade deal with Britain as soon as possible.
After a phone call with Turnbull, Theresa May said: “I have been very clear that this government will make a success of our exit from the European Union. One of the ways we will do this is by embracing the opportunities to strike free trade deals with our partners across the globe. It is very encouraging that one of our closest international partners is already seeking to establish just such a deal.
“This shows that we can make Brexit work for Britain, and the new secretary of state for international trade will be taking this forward in the weeks and months ahead. Britain is an outward-looking and globally minded country, and we will build on this as we forge a new role for ourselves in the world.”
Trade deals with Britain are currently negotiated within the EU bloc, and Britain is not able to sign any trade deals until it has formally exited the EU. However, May has asked the International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox, to begin exploring options with Australia.
Fox claimed that he was “scoping about a dozen deals outside the EU to be ready for when we leave”.
He told the Sunday Times: “We’ve already had a number of countries saying we’d love to do a trade deal with the world’s fifth biggest economy without having to deal with the other 27 members of the EU.”


Referendum could be
held in 2017: Sturgeon


Guardian News and Media
London




Nicola Sturgeon will consider holding a second referendum on Scottish independence in 2017 if the Westminster government starts to leave the EU without settling the UK-wide approach promised by Theresa May.
Asked on the BBC’s Sunday Politics Scotland programme about her position should Article 50 be triggered in December – as proposed by the newly appointed Brexit minister, David Davis – without the Scottish government being “on board”, Sturgeon said that was why she was making preparations for a second independence referendum.
“Of course at that point that would be an option and a decision that I would have to consider,” she said.
May has assured Scotland’s first minister during her first official visit to Edinburgh last Friday that she would not trigger Article 50 until “a UK-wide approach” had been agreed for negotiations to leave the EU.
When Sturgeon was then asked if she would be happy to have an independence referendum in the first half of next year, she said: “I will have an indyref if I come to the conclusion that is in the best interests of Scotland. I’ve always said that. It would be up to Scottish people ultimately to decide if that is right way to go.”
She added that if a second independence referendum were to be held, it would make sense for it to happen before the UK left the EU.
The SNP leader also revealed that during their meeting, May had not indicated that she would seek to block such a referendum.
However, speaking immediately after the meeting, the new prime minister appeared to rule out the possibility in principle, saying: “As far as I’m concerned, the Scottish people have had their vote, they voted in 2014 and a very clear message came through. Both the United Kingdom and the Scottish government said they would abide by that.”