Prime minister stops short of offering legislation so that EU citizens – including thousands of construction workers – can stay put 

Building worker

The head of the National Federation of Housebuilders has warned the promise made yesterday by the prime minister that EU nationals in the UK would be able to stay after Brexit had to be translated into policy.

In his first appearance at the dispatch box as prime minister, Boris Johnson said that EU citizens living and working in the UK would have “an absolute right to remain”, once the country departed the EU on 31 October.

But he stopped short of offering legislation and Richard Beresford, chief executive of the NFB said: “The government has made a number of ‘right to remain’ commitments to EU nationals but many workers remain uncertain about their future.

“Until Boris Johnson delivers the legal certainty that businesses and EU workers need, they will struggle to plan for their future. We need policy, not promises.”

An estimated 165,000 EU nationals work in the UK construction sector, around half of whom comes from former eastern bloc countries, now members of the EU.

Theresa May, Johnson’s predecessor, had also promised EU nationals they would be secure in the UK once it had left the EU, but this was left vague enough to concern many in the sector.

Industry figures from contractors to leading architects have long been calling the rights of EU nationals living in the UK to be both recognised and protected in law.

And surveys by organisations such as the Federation of Master Builders and others have pointed to the damage that would be done to construction and design activity should workers from EU countries not be welcome to stay in the UK.

Caroline Noakes, who was yesterday sacked as immigration minister, had told industry leaders just last month that the flow of people and goods would continue after Brexit, but she declined to commit to EU nationals being given a right to remain, instead arguing that more could be done by UK firms to hire and train local people.

Industry groups had also expressed concerns that the £30,000 minimum annual salary threshold for immigrant workers would miss out a huge swath of building site workers, few of whom earn anything close to that.

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