Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, if his Department will estimate the number of UK citizens residing in EU countries who will return to the UK after 29 March in (a) 2019 and (b) 2020, in the event of the UK leaving the EU (i) with a Withdrawal Agreement and (ii) without a deal.

The Withdrawal Agreement includes protections for the rights of citizens including UK nationals currently living in the EU, which will allow them to continue living their lives broadly as they do now in the countries where they currently live.

The Government has been clear that we do not want or expect a no deal scenario. However, we will continue to do the responsible thing and prepare for all eventualities. This includes the potential impact of a no deal scenario on UK nationals currently resident in the EU.

The Office for National Statistics calculates there are approximately 780,000 UK nationals who currently live in the EU, excluding Ireland. Some of them could decide to return to the UK depending on a range of factors including action by EU member states and personal circumstances.

On 19 December, the European Commission reconfirmed their commitment to putting citizens’ rights first and called on Member States to take a generous approach to the rights of UK nationals in the EU. The majority of Member States, including France, Spain and the Netherlands, have set out their no deal plans and provided reassurances that the rights of UK nationals will be protected. The Government hopes that other Member States will set out the detail of their plans to protect the rights of UK nationals, in line with our assurances to EU citizens living in the UK, so there should be no need for them to leave.