The progress of the UK’s negotiations on EU withdrawal

We welcome the fact that the UK and the EU have prioritised securing an agreement on citizens’ rights. We regret that it has not proved possible to conclude this agreement yet, with the consequence that there is a lack of clarity for EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU—more than four million people. Together with the prospect that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” this creates further doubt about what kind of legal guarantees UK citizens in the EU and EU citizens in the UK and their families will have about their status. We are disappointed by the Commission’s stance on the recognition of the professional qualifications of UK citizens in the EU. Such inflexibility is contributing to unnecessary uncertainty for millions of people in the UK and Europe. We believe greater precedence should be given to the impact that the lack of early agreement on this issue is having on large numbers of citizens. Notwithstanding that the phasing of the negotiations was accepted, we remain unpersuaded that there is any need to link agreement on citizens’ rights to issues concerning Ireland and finance. Both sides should announce when they reach agreement on this that, come what may, the agreement on people is in perpetuity, so that 4.5 million citizens can plan their lives ahead. We urge both sides to reconsider this so that people really do come first. The role of the CJEU in enabling EU citizens in the UK to enforce their rights is clearly an issue of dispute. We encourage the Government and the EU to negotiate a mutually acceptable mechanism. We heard during our inquiry on the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill that there was no convincing precedent in the world for what the EU proposes and concluded in our report that it was not appropriate for the CJEU to continue to have jurisdiction in the UK to enforce citizens’ rights after the UK has left the EU. However, a body could be established with representation from both sides to ensure that agreed rights were consistently interpreted after the UK’s exit. We encourage the UK Government to make a concrete proposal to the EU on the nature and location of the joint body that would have oversight of UK and EU citizens’ rights under any Withdrawal Agreement. We believe that these rights should be enshrined in a binding agreement. We welcome the Government’s acceptance that the current system for applying for permanent residence certificates is “not fit to deal with the situation after we leave the EU”, and the Secretary of State’s acknowledgement that a new system will not ask applicants to complete an 85-page form. Any new online system for enabling EU residents to register with the UK Government must be simple and straightforward and must enable both adults and children to be easily registered. The Government is designing a new system for EU citizens in the UK to make an application online to gain the proposed “settled status”. We note that this system is being developed “from scratch” and it is not anticipated to be operational until the end of 2018, only three months before the UK leaves the EU in March 2019. The new system has to be able to cope with potentially three million applications. Therefore, a period after March 2019 is vital to enable EU citizens in the UK to apply for settled status and we welcome the Government’s commitment that EU citizens will still be able to apply for settled status for two years after the UK leaves the EU. The Government has said that obtaining documentation to show their settled status will enable EU citizens who are resident here to continue to do so lawfully but there needs to be early clarification on what that documentation will consist of. If however the processing of applications continues after the two year implementation period then there will be a proportion of EU citizens in the UK unable to demonstrate their settled status and therefore their right to live and work in the UK. We welcome the progress made on citizens’ rights and urge both sides to do more to resolve the outstanding areas of dispute to provide reassurance to millions of citizens living across the EU. However, attaining sufficient progress in December 2017 does not mean there will be a final agreement in place on citizens’ rights. Firstly, negotiations on citizens’ rights will continue alongside phase two talks. Secondly, the principle that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” holds out the risk that, even when an agreement on citizens’ rights is reached, it could still be put in jeopardy by a failure to reach an overall Withdrawal Agreement. We call on the Government to request, and the EU to agree, that any agreement reached on citizens’ rights should be ring-fenced when reached, and preserved even if no overall Article 50 deal is agreed. If the EU negotiating team rejected such a request, then the UK Government should make a declaration that it will unilaterally provide a guarantee on EU citizens’ rights in the UK (as recommended in a report by our predecessor Committee). This would provide reassurance to the more than three million EU citizens living in the UK. In these circumstances, we would expect the EU to issue a similar guarantee to UK citizens living in EU countries. The UK and the Irish Governments are co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement. The complexity and sensitivity of the implications of the UK’s decision to withdraw from the EU, including the Single Market and Customs Union, for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland mean that the negotiations will continue into phase two of the Article 50 process. We agree with the government’s view that for progress to be made in Northern Ireland, the EU and UK should move quickly to negotiations on the terms of the EU-UK future relationship. We also recognise the unique challenges posed by the need to preserve the peace settlement in Northern Ireland, including issues that go far beyond trade and customs. In the light of the recent statement from the Irish Government about the border, Ministers should now set out in more detail how they plan to meet their objective to avoid the imposition of a border, including if no withdrawal agreement is reached by 29 March 2019. The Government has demonstrated significant flexibility in its approach to protecting the Belfast Agreement, peace and co-operation on the island of Ireland. Its objective of enshrining the Common Travel Area within the Withdrawal Agreement is welcome as is the UK’s assurance that it will not compromise the Republic of Ireland’s free movement obligations.