PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Free Movement of People (5 March 2019)

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether the Prime Minister has entered into correspondence with the European Council on changing the mandate of the European Commission to allow for the adoption of part two of the Withdrawal Agreement on citizens’ rights under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union.

Asked by:
Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)

From the very beginning the Prime Minister has been clear that safeguarding the rights of EU citizens living in the UK and UK nationals living in the EU was her first priority for negotiations. The best way to guarantee those rights, both for UK nationals in the EU and EU citizens in the UK, is through the Withdrawal Agreement.

On 27 February, the House of Commons supported a proposal by Alberto Costa MP which requires the Government to seek a joint UK/EU commitment to preserve the citizens’ rights section of the Withdrawal Agreement, whatever the outcome of negotiations.

The Secretary of State Steve Barclay has now written to the EU’s lead Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, on ring-fencing the Citizens’ Rights part of the Withdrawal Agreement. This letter has also been shared with Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator and the Secretary General of the European Council. Copies of the letter have been placed in the libraries of both Houses and it has been published online at gov.uk.

Answered by:
Mr Robin Walker (Conservative)
11 March 2019