Brexit: David Davis told Brussels will not accept deportation of EU immigrants

European Parliament, which has veto, says nothing must change for citizens

The European Parliament would block any Brexit deal that resulted in EU citizens living in Britain being deported when the UK leaves the EU, David Davis has been told.

The Parliament’s Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt wrote to the UK’s Brexit Secretary on Tuesday to warn that EU citizens in Britain should have “exactly the same rights as they have today” after the UK leaves.

The body, which has a veto on the final Brexit deal, warned last week that the UK and EU were still far from a deal on EU citizens’ rights.

“I have today confirmed in a new letter to David Davis what in our point of view are the four elements that are needed for a good arrangement on the citizens’ rights for EU citizens and UK citizens,” Mr Verhofstadt told reporters at a press conference in Strasbourg.

“We cannot accept a system in which EU citizens who are currently residing in the UK or are mainly already permanently resident are at risk of being deported as a result of the process.

“That concerns, also, the more stringent criminality checks that are forseen, more stringent than in EU law.”

Mr Verhofstadt also reiterated the Parliament’s red-lines on EU citizens: that they should be given the right to family reunification, that their remaining in the UK should be by way of “declaration” rather than application, and that the process should be cost-free for them.

Guy Verhofstadt is the European Parliament's Brexit co-ordinator

The British government currently wants to charge EU citizens to apply for settled status after Brexit, and says this will cost no more than the price of a British passport. But Mr Verfhostadt said this meant applications for larger families could run into the hundreds of pounds, which could become “a problem for families with a low income”.

The rights of EU citizens is one of the three main separation issues yet to be agreed between Britain and the EU. The EU will not discuss trade or Britain’s future relationship with the EU until EU citizens’ rights, the divorce bill, and the issue of the Northern Ireland border are settled.

The UK has around a week to make "sufficient progress" on the three key issues before it misses its next change to move to trade talks. If no progress is made by early December, the next opportunity to move the talks forward will be in March – putting extreme strain on the already tight Article 50 timetable.

No extra rounds of face-to-face talks in Brussels have yet been scheduled before the December summit, though Theresa May is expected to visit the European Parliament for behind-closed-doors talks in the coming weeks.