Boris Johnson has said he does not expect the UK to be subject to EU’s laws obliging free movement once it leaves the EU in 2019, apparently contradicting Theresa May’s promise in her Florence speech that the UK would stick to the status quo as much as possible during a planned two-year transition.

Speaking on the Radiožurnál radio station in the Czech Republic, the foreign secretary said: “The relevant date for cutting the current model of free movement of persons and EU immigration into Britain is still 2019. We must be clear about this.

“The approval of the transitional period did not extend this deadline – that is, if I was right to understand the prime minister’s proposal.

“In 2019, union citizens living in the UK must meet the conditions, so they can stay in the country automatically and get ‘landlord status’. Other people who arrive in the UK can still stay and try to get the same rights after five years.”

Johnson was a on a brief tour of Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovenia to relay messages set out in May’s speech and drum up support to overcome Brussels’ resistance to the Brexit talks moving on to the issue of the future relationship between the UK and the EU.

So far, the UK has been unable to divide heads of EU national governments from the key commission negotiating team.

There have been numerous reports that Johnson privately is determined that once the UK does leave in 2019, and enters the transition period, its obligations to abide by the EU rules of the single market are as minimal as possible.

Although Johnson repeated his optimism that a deal was possible well before the 2019 deadline, he said he could not exclude no deal being reached, saying: “As with any negotiation, whether you are buying a ping-pong bat or a rug, it is true that you must be ready to leave the talks.”

He added that the UK will pay its debts to the EU, and continue to pay during the transition.

Boris Johnson contradicts May on freedom of movement Read more

He said the UK was a country “that obeys the law and pays bills”. He added: “The British tourist in Florence also does not get up from the table and leave without paying. We put the amount on the table. We’re just like that. And we’ll make sure that we do not let our partners down financially this time.”

Johnson promised that British courts would take into account the jurisprudence of the European court of justice in adjudicating on the rights of EU citizens living in the UK.

He also urged his EU partners to recognise that now was the time to allow the talks to proceed to the issue of the future relationship between the UK and the EU by recognising that “the British are being pretty positive here and it is time to move the conversation forward”.

He added: “Britain thinks it is time to talk about the future. It is time to float this ship down the slipway and on to open seas and get it moving.”