The European parliament’s Brexit coordinator has warned the home secretary that Britain’s recent treatment of foreign nationals could “colour” MEPs’ attitudes to whether they approve a future Brexit deal.

Guy Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister, has written to Amber Rudd to express leading MEPs’ concerns about a series of incidents highlighted by the Guardian, including the threat to deport a Japanese woman who lives with her Polish husband in London.

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Haruko Tomioka, 48, had her child benefit stopped and driving licence revoked, in what critics claim was an example of the Home Office’s attempts to create a “hostile environment” for those it believes should not be in the country.

Despite living in the UK for 13 years, and being married to an EU national, Tomioka was told in a formal letter she had seven days to leave the country before the Home Office accepted it had made a mistake.

Verhofstadt, who met the Brexit secretary, David Davis, for a meeting on Monday in Brussels, at the British cabinet minister’s bidding, warned Rudd in his letter of the concerns shared by him and colleagues on the European parliament’s Brexit steering group.

“An increasing number of these incidents have been reported in the media in the past months,” he wrote. “The most recent case concerned a Japanese spouse of an EU citizen who was threatened with deportation even though she was lawfully in the country under EU law for more than 13 years.

“As you are aware, the interests of both the EU and UK citizens are of paramount concern to the European parliament and the institution will act to protect their interests throughout the process leading to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.”

Verhofstadt warned that the UK needed to continue to comply with the letter and the spirit of EU law as long it was still a member of the bloc.

He suggested that should there be inconsistent application of EU law, MEPs were unlikely to look kindly on the UK’s proposal to withdraw some of the rights of EU nationals living in the UK, including that of being automatically allowed to reunite there with a spouse from a third country. British citizens are subject to an income threshold of £18,600 a year should they seek to be reunited with a spouse from abroad, unlike nationals from EU member states living in the UK.

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Verhofstadt wrote: “Until withdrawal the UK remains a member state of the union and fully bound by its obligations under EU law, including EU legislation on free movement of citizens.

“Those obligations are clear and incontestable. Moreover, inconsistent respect for those obligations can only but raise our concerns as regards the prospects for these citizens after UK withdrawal.

“In this context, it will inevitably colour parliament’s attitude to provisions on citizens’ rights in any final withdrawal agreement, to which, as you know, parliament must give its approval.”

He added: “We hope that you can alleviate our concerns and can confirm that these are indeed isolated incidents which are being dealt with in an expedite and satisfactory fashion.”

It is understood the home secretary will respond to Verhofstadt’s letter.

A Home Office spokesman said: “The rights of EU nationals living in the UK remain unchanged while we are a member of the European Union.

“We have offered our sincerest apologies to those affected by recent errors. The Home Office deals effectively with millions of visa, citizenship, passport and immigration status applications each year. When errors arise in immigration cases, the Home Office works as quickly as possible to rectify the situation.

“In June we published our offer to protect the rights of EU citizens in the UK, confirming no-one living here lawfully will be asked to leave when we exit the EU and they will have a grace period to regularise their status.”

David Davis accused of Brexit misconduct

A group of lawyers, academics and campaigners have lodged a series of criminal complaints against the Brexit secretary, David Davis, accusing him of misconduct in public office for his handling of Brexit matters.

Complaints have been lodged by the pro-EU Wolchover Action Group, named after the barrister David Wolchover who has previously raised the issue of Brexit’s legal basis, at different police stations around the country. Four of the complaints are being reviewed by a specialist crime unit and two have been forwarded to the Met police. Three complainants were told that it was not a police matter.

An email marked “sensitive” and seen by the Guardian from the office of the Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick, to one of the complainants states that Commander Stuart Cundy is dealing with the issue.



The email, from Insp Simon Rotherham, staff officer to the commissioner, states: “He [Cundy] will review the evidence and make a decision whether the information is sufficient to determine or to believe that a notifiable offence has been committed. Once that decision has been made Commander Cundy will respond to you.”

Wolchover, who in March wrote to Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, to raise the issue of Brexit’s legal basis, said Davis had misrepresented the referendum result by treating it as binding, which he argued it was not. According to Wolchover, the government’s actions amount to misconduct in public office.

“As a senior member of a cabinet that had sponsored the European Union Referendum Act 2015 Mrs May could have been in little doubt of the exclusively advisory nature of the referendum. Nor, as a committed ‘Brexiteer’, could Mr Davis,” said Wolchover. “Yet introducing the European Union (notification of withdrawal) bill on 31 January 2017, Mr Davis told the House of Commons that it was merely a procedural measure and was not about whether the UK should leave the European Union or, indeed, about how it should do so; it is simply about parliament empowering the government to implement a decision already made – a point of no return already passed.”

Diane Taylor