Michael Gove to pledge free UK citizenship for 3m EU nationals

Source: The Guardian

Michael Gove will pledge free British citizenship for 3 million EU nationals after Brexit if he becomes prime minister, as well as abolishing the burden of providing proof of settled status, the Guardian understands.

The environment secretary, one of the leading figures in Vote Leave, is understood to believe strongly that the pledge would honour the promises given to EU citizens by that campaign during the 2016 referendum.

He has given his backing to a campaign by the Conservative party backbencher Alberto Costa, a leading champion of EU citizens’ rights, who said he had spent two months canvassing opinion from leadership candidates on the issue.

“Michael Gove has fully agreed to adopt my proposals and he will publicly announce that it was wrong to put EU citizens on the negotiation table in the first place,” Costa told the Guardian.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/27/michael-gove-to-pledge-free-citizenship-for-3m-eu-nationals