Remain and leave campaigners in joint call to end anxiety for EU nationals
A range of prominent political and academic figures have written to the Telegraph urging the Government and those standing for the leadership of the Conservative Party to make an unequivocal statement that EU migrants currently living in the UK are welcome here, and that changes which will follow from Britain's withdrawal from the EU will apply only to new migrants.
Those signing the letter included leading figures from the campaign to leave the EU.
The letter says that the vote for Brexit has caused anxiety for the three million EU citizens living in the UK, and the 1.2 million British citizens living in other EU countries.
It comes as Theresa May, the current favourite to be the next Prime Minister, warned that the future of EU citizens currently living in the UK is uncertain and their status will be part of any negotiations to leave the EU.
The Independent quoted the Home Secretary as saying today: "What's important is there will be a negotiation here as to how we deal with that issue of people who are already here and who have established life here and Brits who have established a life in other countries within the European Union.
"The position at the moment is as it has been, there's no change at the moment, but of course we have to factor that into negotiations. As part of the negotiation we will need to look at this question of people who are here in the UK from the EU."
One Conservative leadeship contender, Stephen Crabb, did confirm on Twitter that he would allow EU citizens already in UK to continue their lives here. He said he would expect the same for British citizens in the EU. "People are not bargaining chips," he added.
ITV News reported that Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon wrote to Prime Minister David Cameron and the five candidates bidding to replace him to demand that "immediate guarantees" be given on the residency status and rights of EU nationals living in Scotland.
Sturgeon said it was "imperative" that the UK government respected the rights of Scotland's 173,000 EU citizens.
In a briefing published last week, the House of Commons Library noted the following with regard to the future status of EU citizens in the UK:
"What will happen to the free movement and working rights of EU/EEA citizens?
"For the time being, these rights remain unchanged. What happens in practice in the longer term will depend on the approach taken by the Government and the 27 other Member States during the UK's withdrawal negotiations.
"The Government did not set out what approach it would to take on this issue during the referendum campaign.
"It has been widely suggested that the UK and other European governments would probably favour a solution that protects the immigration rights of people already exercising their free movement rights, given the widespread disruption and administrative burden that retrospective changes could cause.
"'Leave' campaigners indicated support for such an approach during the referendum campaign. Supporters of the Vote Leave campaign said that, in the event of a vote to leave the EU, "there will be no change for EU citizens already lawfully resident in the UK"."