Here’s how Theresa May can grant assurances to all Britain’s EU nationals

In the chaos after the Brexit vote, no one really noticed when Theresa May adopted an odd position on EU nationals*. Throughout the campaign, everyone – from Ukip to the Lib Dems, Boris Johnson to Andy Burnham – had been clear that the Brexit debate was not about deporting anyone. Those EU nationals who were in Britain should stay here. In a fractious debate, it was a note of rare consensus: no one’s status was in question. But days after the referendum, the then Home Secretary sat down on Robert Peston’s sofa and suggested that EU nationals might not be safe after all, and that she might use them as bargaining chips in her negotiation. (A plan which would later backfire badly.)

It was baffling, bizarre and – to many – appalling. Religious and business leaders certainly were disgusted (and said so), but not many others took up the cause. The EU nationals seemed to be a victim of the Brexit civil war.