Foreign secretary gives much more concrete guarantee than Theresa May, who has held off until rights of UK citizens in EU are secured

Boris Johnson has unilaterally declared to EU citizens living in the UK that “your rights will be protected whatever happens” after Brexit.

Speaking at an evening reception last Tuesday, the foreign secretary gave a much more concrete guarantee than the prime minister, who has held off promising to continue EU citizens’ rights until those of UK citizens in the rest of the EU have been secured.

Johnson made the promise at a gathering of the Belvedere Forum on Polish-UK relations, which was later tweeted out by the official account of the UK embassy in Poland.

UK in Poland 🇬🇧 (@ukinpoland) Kocham Cię, Polsko! Impressive command of 🇵🇱language by @BorisJohnson yesterday at #BelvedereForum18 launching reception 🇬🇧❤️🇵🇱 pic.twitter.com/hzBTsur41p

“We have 30,000 businesses in this country that are Polish. We have 1 million Poles in Britain,” the foreign secretary said. “We are thoroughly blessed, we are lucky. And I have only one message for you all tonight: you are loved, you are welcome, your rights will be protected whatever happens. Yes. You are recording this? Your rights will be protected whatever happens.”

Only hours earlier, Johnson had been more circumspect when he told the House of Commons that the deal on EU citizens had not yet been settled and it was “up to our friends and partners in the EU now to look seriously at the offer we are making and, particularly on citizens, to make progress”.

“Everybody wants to make progress, everybody wants to give the 3.2 million EU citizens in this country the maximum possible reassurance and security. That can only happen once our friends and partners decide to get serious in these negotiations,” he told MPs.

Q&A Brexit phrasebook: what are citizens' rights? Show Hide Citizens’ rights are the rights and protections offered to all EU citizens, including free movement and residence, equal treatment and a wide range of other rights under EU law regarding work, education, social security and health. They are held by some 3.5 million citizens from other member states in the UK and about 1.2 million British nationals on the continent, and are a key part of the negotiations that are taking Britain out of Europe. Read more on citizens' rights

More from the Brexit phrasebook

During the referendum campaign, Johnson made a promise to EU citizens that their rights would be protected after Brexit, but the government did not hold to this position when May became prime minister.

Since then, Johnson has kept to the government line that the rights of EU citizens in the UK can only be guaranteed when the rights of UK citizens in the rest of the EU are guaranteed by Brussels.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said Johnson had been emphasising the government’s desire to secure rights for EU citizens as a priority.

EU citizens' rights groups dismiss May letter as meaningless Read more

“As the prime minister has made clear, safeguarding the rights of EU citizens living in the UK and UK nationals living in the EU is her first priority and we are within touching distance of agreement,” she said. “The foreign secretary was simply reiterating our determination to achieve this.”

May moved to provide extra reassurance to millions of worried EU citizens last week, saying in a letter they would be able to stay and the two sides were close to an agreement on what happens to their rights.

However, EU citizens’ groups remain concerned about the protection of their existing rights, especially in the case of the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal in March 2019.

Nicolas Hatton, of the 3million group fighting for EU citizens’ rights, said it was a “great quote” from Johnson that went much further than any official promises made by the government.

“It is a great commitment from the foreign secretary and we hope that he can speak to Theresa May and David Davis and make sure this will be government policy because it is more than anything they have said so far. We have released an alternative to the settled status proposals for EU citizens and we will be sending a copy to Boris Johnson and we hope that he will agree with us.”

May was also warned by a cross-party group of MEPs this week that her plans to force EU nationals to add their names to a register in the transition period immediately after Brexit would be illegal and unacceptable to the European parliament.

UK plan to register EU citizens would be illegal, say MEPs Read more

Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, said Johnson was being “extraordinarily dishonest”.

“Theresa May, Amber Rudd and David Davis have all indicated that the rights of EU citizens will be changing, and that there are no guarantees. Liam Fox says they are bargaining chips,” she said.

“The Tories want to use EU and UK nationals’ rights as part of the whole negotiating process, and are refusing to accept the fair offer that has already been tabled. They really can’t be trusted to carry out Brexit negotiations in anyone’s interests but their own.”

Ed Davey, the former cabinet minister and now Liberal Democrat spokesman on home affairs, said Johnson’s claim was in “direct contradiction to the government, which is continuing to use EU nationals as bargaining chips in the negotiations”.

“We all know what a Brexit promise from Boris Johnson is worth, and it’s considerably less than what he was paid for his last column,” he said.

“Boris let down millions of leave voters by promising them an extra £350m a week for the NHS, now he’s doing the same thing by giving false assurances to Polish nationals living in Britain.

“If Boris wants to make a statement on a change of policy in the House of Commons we would be more than happy to hear it.”

James McGrory, the executive director of Open Britain, the group campaigning against a hard Brexit, said it was time the government acted on Johnson’s “warm words”.

“It’s nice to see Boris Johnson’s conscience rearing its head from time to time, but even he must know that this isn’t actually government policy,” he said. “Theresa May has repeatedly failed to guarantee that the rights of EU citizens living in Britain will be guaranteed in a no-deal scenario. Liam Fox described them as ‘cards’ in a negotiation with the EU.

“Whatever Boris might say, ministers have failed to give EU nationals the certainty they need, which is a scandal. These people are our doctors and nurses, colleagues, friends and neighbours. It is time the government acted on Boris Johnson’s warm words and gave them the absolute guarantee that they can stay in Britain with their rights protected under any circumstances.”



The prime minister’s spokesman said Johnson had been talking “in his own inimitable way”, insisting that he backed the government’s position on EU citizens which makes securing their rights a priority.