17:48

Campaigners for EU citizens’ rights have said they are “upset” and “disappointed” with Theresa May’s speech.

They welcomed her promise to put the future agreement on their rights into the withdrawal agreement but said it was “too vague” to give them comfort.

“People want to be re-assured that everything they have now, they will continue to have. They won’t be any more re-assured after today,” said Nicolas Hatton, co-founder of the3million campaign group in the UK.

EU citizens have been asking the government to abandon their plan to put them in a new immigration category of “settled status” post Brexit because they fear this will mean a reduction in their current rights and give the Home Office, which they say they do not trust, a say in their future.

They instead want the government to match the EU offer to roll over all the employment and social rights they have now.

In Spain there was dismay over the prime minister’s remarks about the UK’s position in Europe. Sue Wilson, chair of Bremain in Spain, one of the grassroots organisations campaign for Britons in the country, said: