Another day, another mixed message from the government over its position on Brexit. This time it’s immigration that has become the source of confusion after the Home Secretary and her minister appeared to come up with conflicting lines this morning.
In an article for the Financial Times, Amber Rudd said she wanted to reassure businesses and EU nationals that ‘we will ensure there is no “cliff edge” once we leave the bloc’. To do this, she said the flow of EU workers would continue for an ‘implementation period’ after Britain’s exit. However, speaking on the Today programme, Brandon Lewis – the Home Office minister – appeared to take a more hardline approach. He said freedom of movement from the EU would end in Spring 2019.
Now it may be a question of semantics – ‘freedom of movement’ as mandated by the EU will technically end once Britain leaves the EU, even if a near identical system replaces it in the implementation period.
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