Expat rights deal ‘may be close’

Some of the British national media today state that ‘senior government figures’ have reassured business leaders that only a few remaining EU states have yet to agree to allow expats to maintain the right to continue to live and work in their adopted countries after a Brexit.

This is said to be leading to speculation that a deal may be announced at a Brussels summit in December.

This comes as British Prime Minister Theresa May told a leading business organisation, the CBI, that she is hoping for ‘an early agreement on the status of UK nationals in Europe and EU nationals here’.

However a government source told The Telegraph that while they “hope and expect to guarantee the reciprocal rights of EU and British citizens”, it is “premature and wrong” to suggest certainty.

“No deals have been struck, formal or informal,” the source said.

The chairman of the British Community Committee of France, Christopher Chantrey, said: “This is good news for us all.”