Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

UK will guarantee EU citizens right to remain if reciprocal deal is offered

Theresa May
Theresa May

The UK will offer residency guarantees for EU citizens if a reciprocal offer is provided, the Prime Minister has told other heads of state.

Mrs May was speaking to the leaders of the EU’s 27 other member states over a private dinner at the European Council, when she made the offer.

A position paper outlining details of the plan, which offers a grace period even if EU citizens arrive before the UK leaves the EU, will be put before MPs on Monday.

Ms May is understood to have said: “No-one will face a cliff edge.

“All EU citizens either here today or arriving before we leave the EU will have the opportunity to regularise their status.

“We are looking for this to be a reciprocal arrangement — both sides should seek to agree terms as early as possible.”

There would be three categories of “settled” citizenship in the plan.

The first would be any EU citizen who has lived in the UK for more than five years, who would be considered already settled and offered UK citizenship.

The second is EU citizens who have lived here less than five years by the cutoff period, understood to be the date of the Brexit referendum result but before the point the UK leaves the EU, which is set for March 2019.

These people would be given a grace period of up to two years to apply for the right to remain.

If these people had not found work during the grace period, they would be expected to leave.

The Prime Minister told leaders: “The UK does not want anyone here to have to leave, nor does it want families to be split up.

“The UK position represents a fair and serious offer and one aimed at giving as much certainty as possible to citizens who have settled in the UK, building careers and lives and contributing so much to our society.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon backed a guarantee for Eu citizens living in the UK.

Speaking at the Royal Highland Show today (Fri) she was expected to say: “EU workers are important to virtually all parts of the modern farming industry – from the laboratories of our research institutes to the fields of our fruit farms.

“The UK Government placed a great deal of emphasis on restricting freedom of movement. That seems to be the key reason why it is not pursuing single market membership.

“But Scottish agriculture, and Scotland more generally, has benefitted enormously from freedom of movement.”

Ends