Theresa May says Brexit negotiations on citizens’ rights have started constructively

THERESA MAY said there has been a “constructive” start to the Brexit talks as she prepared to set out proposals to break the logjam over the status of expat citizens following UK withdrawal from the EU.

Arriving at the European Council summit in Brussels, the Prime Minister reaffirmed her intention that the future of the 3.2 million EU nationals in the UK and 1.2 million UK citizens in the EU should be one of the first issues to be resolved.

Mrs May said: “What I am going to be setting out today is clearly how the United Kingdom proposes to protect the rights of EU citizens living in the UK and see the rights of UK citizens living in Europe protected.”

She said counter-terrorism would be on the agenda.

“One of the things that I will be calling on with other European leaders today is that we do more working together to ensure that we stop the spread of extremism on line, that we prevent terrorists from having a safe space online and we keep our citizens safe,” she said.

Ahead of her visit, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he hoped leaders of the 27 other nations would match the PM’s “generous” proposals to guarantee the rights of EU nationals with a similar offer to the British expats on the Continent.

The 27 remaining members will also hear a report from the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier on his talks with Brexit Secretary David Davis, when he accepted a European timetable to put off talks on a future trade relationship until progress has been made on the terms of the divorce.

Mrs May will also brief her counterparts on the UK’s commitment to a new £75 million plan designed to stem the flow of illegal migrants from Africa to Europe.

The three-year programme will offer humanitarian support for migrants on the perilous transit routes from the Horn of Africa and western Africa through countries including Niger, Egypt and Libya.

Migrants who find themselves stranded and destitute along the routes will be offered assistance to return home.

A record 4,576 people are thought to have died while attempting the risky central Mediterranean Sea crossing during 2016.

Some 181,000 people arrived in Italy via this route last year.

German chancellor Angela Merkel said building a future for the remaining 27 EU member states took priority over negotiations with the UK.

She said: “I want to say clearly that, for me, shaping the future for the 27 takes priority over the negotiations with Great Britain over withdrawal.

“Naturally we will conduct these negotiations quickly and we will conduct them intensively. We will do everything to ensure that – as has been successfully done so far – the 27 states stick together.”