Free movement will end when Britain leaves the European Union in March 2019, the Immigration Minister has said.
Brandon Lewis said freedom of movement was one of the “core principles” of the EU, and that a new immigration system would be in place when Britain formally departs the union – two years after Article 50 was triggered.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Free movement of labour ends when we leave the European Union in the spring of 2019 – we’re very clear about that.”
We have published a joint technical note with the European Union setting out our positions on citizens' rights https://t.co/1srxUlx8Qv pic.twitter.com/KrNNKUrc0z
— Exiting the EU Dept (@DExEUgov) July 20, 2017
Asked why free trade and single market access would not also end then, Mr Lewis said: “There’s a period of negotiation we’re going through with the European Union at the moment, but we’re very clear that free movement ends – it’s part of the core principles, the four key principles, of the European Union – when we leave.”
Pressed on whether it was a red line to end free movement in March 2019, he said: “It’s a simple matter of fact that the four key principles of the European Union include free movement – we won’t be a member of the European Union when we leave.”
His comments came after Home Secretary Amber Rudd announced she will commission the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to carry out a detailed analysis of the role of EU nationals in the UK economy and society.
Good to have support of such wide range as @migrationwatch & business groups & education bodies re our evidenced based approach. https://t.co/Cwq1aqdg2b
— Brandon Lewis (@BrandonLewis) July 27, 2017
Mr Lewis said: “There will be a new immigration system in place from the spring of 2019 and that will be outlined in the Immigration Bill that will go through Parliament next year.”
He also told the programme that it remained the Government’s “long-term aim” to bring immigration down to “sustainable levels”, but did not say when that would be achieved.
“(It is) our determination to see net migration fall to sustainable levels and we think that is around tens of thousands – it’s something we’ve had and continue to have as our long-term aim.”
Brandon Lewis said it was ‘very clear’ free movement will end with Brexit (David Mirzoeff/PA)
Mr Lewis would not confirm if the target would be reached in this Parliament, and said: “If this was an easy thing to do we would have already done it.
“We cannot, people know, control our net migration levels fully until we leave the European Union.”
Senior Labour backbencher Frank Field said he thought Mr Lewis’s comments were “alarming”, and told the same programme: “I genuinely don’t think voters are looking for a cut-off point and will judge the Government accordingly.
“(Donald) Trump won in America on immigration – not because most people believed he would build a wall, but he convinced people that he was serious about trying to cut the numbers of immigrants no matter how long it took and I think that’s where the British electorate is and that’s where the Government ought to start to begin its negotiations.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel