07 March, 2016

By VIVA Team

Philip_Hammond__No_3194476b

UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond understands that many unanswered questions remain concerning the status of Brits abroad should the UK vote to leave the EU.

Amid fears that hundreds of thousands of Brits living in Spain might have to return to the UK if the country votes to leave the EU, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has said that in all likelihood the UK and Spain would strike a reciprocal arrangement to allow foreign nationals to continue living in their countries…

Speaking at a think tank in London concerning foreign affairs, Hammond was asked whether Brits would have to leave other EU countries if Brexit was confirmed.

Hammond replied: It’s a very good question and a question that the Leave campaign has to answer.

“There are more than two million British citizens living in European Union countries.

“We have spent a lot of time in the UK focusing on EU citizens living here, but we have two million of our own citizens living in the EU – the largest number living in Spain.

“Somebody has to answer that question. Would we negotiate bilateral agreements, would there be quotas?

“What do the Leave campaign have in mind? If they are going to impose quotas, would they be retrospective? Would they expect them to be reciprocal?”

The Foreign Secretary also said that there is currently no need to plan for the aftermath of Brexit, confirming that there would be a two-year transition period before the UK was fully independent of the EU.

“If the people of the UK vote on 23 June to leave the European Union that will be the beginning of the process not the end of the process, two years mandated within the treaties likely to be a much longer period to put in place all the trade agreements that we would need to put in place,” he said.

“Obviously if the British people decide to leave that is what the Government will do – we will move forward straightaway serving the necessary notice on the European Union and beginning that process of negotiation.”