Boris Johnson declares that rights of EU citizens in UK will be protected 'whatever happens' after Brexit

Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary
Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary

Boris Johnson has declared that EU citizens living in the UK will have their rights protected "whatever happens" after Brexit.

The Foreign Secretary went significantly further than the Prime Minister as he suggested the UK will guarantee citizen's rights even if the UK leaves without a deal.

The Prime Minister has said that the UK will protect the rights of EU citizens in exchange for the EU offering similar guarantees to British citizens living in Europe.

Mr Johnson made the apparent unilateral offer in an address to the Belvedere Forum on Polish-UK relations on Tuesday evening last week.

A clip of his comments was put on Twitter by the official account of the Polish embassy in the UK. 

He said: "We have 30,000 businesses in this country that are Polish. We have one million Poles in Britain. We are thoroughly blessed, we are lucky. 

"And I have only one message for you all tonight: you are loved, you are welcome, your rights will be protected whatever happens. Yes. You are recording this? Your rights will be protected whatever happens.”

His intervention appeared to conflict with comments he made to MPs in the Commons earlier that day. Mr Johnson said it was "up to our friends and partners in the EU now to look seriously at the offer we are making, and, particularly on citizens, to make progress.”

The Foreign Office said that Mr Johnson had been emphasising the Government's intention to secure EU citizen's rights as a priority in Brexit negotiations.

It comes after the Prime Minister pledged that EU citizens living in Britain will be able to stay even if negotiations break down. Mr Johnson's pledge goes further, however, as it offers to protect their existing rights.

The Telegraph has previously disclosed that the UK is increasingly confident that the issue of citizen's right is "done and dusted". The most significant issue is the Brexit bill.

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