Theresa May's offer stingy: EU leaders
PM says EU citizens can stay if they've lived in UK for five years.
Theresa May has played her opening gambit of Brexit negotiations, telling European leaders she will offer some three million EU citizens a new ‘settled status’ allowing them to stay in Britain if they have lived here five years.
People gaining it would secure rights on healthcare, education and benefits broadly similar to those enjoyed by EU citizens in the UK now. Meanwhile, EU migrants to Britain said that far from being "generous", Prime Minister Theresa May's offer for their post-Brexit future was stingy and would leave them prey to the whims of British lawmakers.
Some migrants worried that the proposals meant their rights would no longer be protected by the European Court of Justice after an EU membership referendum last year in which they had no say.
"There's nothing special in her offer," Spanish nurse Joan Pons, one of 60,000 Europeans working for the National Health Service (NHS) in England alone, said.
"It's not a 'generous' offer. It's rather ridiculous," he said. The offer outlined by the beleaguered May at an EU summit was also condemned by London Mayor Sadiq Khan as woefully insufficient.
"The PM's plan doesn't come close to fully guaranteeing the rights of the 3 million EU nationals living in the UK," Khan tweeted.