European Council

Chuka Umunna Excerpts

Monday 24th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I think that member states and the EU are increasingly looking at this in relation not just to what it means for the UK, but what it means for them as well. I have said consistently that this is not just about the UK, in some sense, being a supplicant to the remaining 27 of the EU; it is about us negotiating a relationship that works for both sides.

[Mr Chuka Umunna (Streatham) (Lab)]

Article 50 puts any country seeking to leave the EU at a disadvantage, in that if you have not got the deal you want within two years, you could flip on to trading with the EU on World Trade Organisation terms, putting your companies and sectors at huge disadvantage. With that in mind, we need to create a certain amount of good will from our European partners, and making them think that their EU citizens living here are the cause of all our problems is not the way to build good will. I accept that the Prime Minister will want to find reforms to the way that immigration works, but will she guarantee that her Cabinet—I see the Home Secretary sitting next to her—will exercise more care in the language they use on these matters?

[The Prime Minister]

The Government, and all Ministers in the Government, exercise every care in the language they use in these matters. I have to say to the hon. Gentleman that the image he portrays of the impression we have given for EU citizens is quite the wrong one; I have been very clear about our expectations and intentions in relation to EU citizens living here in the United Kingdom. But he must accept, as must other Members of this House, that we also have a duty to British citizens who are living in EU member states, and that is why I want to ensure that the status of both is guaranteed.