LONDON — Free movement of EU citizens to Britain will end in March 2019, Prime Minister Theresa May’s official spokesperson said Monday.
The spokesperson also said it would be “wrong to speculate” on what the immigration system in Britain would look like after Brexit, following a series of often contradictory statements by Cabinet ministers over the past week.
Chancellor Philip Hammond said in an interview on Friday that he wanted a transitional period lasting for up to three years and that would mean “many arrangements remaining very similar to how they were the day before we exited the European Union.”
Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who last week ordered an analysis of EU migration, also said EU citizens would be able to continue coming to the U.K. during the transition period, as long as they were registered.
But International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, a leading campaigner for Brexit, said unregulated free movement of labor post-Brexit would “not keep faith” with the EU referendum result. He said the Cabinet had not agreed a deal on immigration after Brexit.
Briefing journalists on Monday, the prime minister’s official spokesperson sought to clarify the situation, saying: “Free movement will end in March 2019.”
The spokesperson added that “other elements of the post-Brexit immigration system will be brought forward in due course. It would be wrong to speculate on what these might look like or to suggest free movement will continue as it is now.â€
