Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what plans the Government has to bring forward legislative proposals before the summer recess to maintain the rights of EU citizens living in the UK; and what recent discussions he has had with the European Commission on maintaining the rights of UK citizens rights in the EU.

The Government has always been clear and steadfast in our commitment to protecting citizens' rights. The Government is already implementing its offer to guarantee the rights of EU citizens in the UK and the EU Settlement Scheme opened fully on 30 March and to date, over 800,000 citizens have made an application.

The EU Settlement Scheme, has been implemented by the changes to Appendix EU to the Immigration Rules, which are made under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971. These legislative measures are consistent with the Government’s commitment that in any scenario, EU citizens resident in the UK by exit day will be able to stay and continue living their lives broadly as they do now.

On 27 February, the House supported an amendment tabled by Alberto Costa MP to seek a joint UK-EU commitment to adopt Part II of the Withdrawal Agreement whatever the outcome of negotiations. The Government has since written to Michel Barnier twice on this matter. On 21 June Michel Barnier responded to the Secretary of State’s most recent letter of 17 June and we are carefully considering our response.