Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, with reference to the reported comments of the European Commission's Chief Negotiator Michael Barnier at the conclusion of the round two Brexit negotiation talks on 20 July 2017, what points of divergence there are between the EU negotiating position and the UK negotiating position on (a) the rights of future family members and (b) the exports of certain social benefits; and if he will make a statement.

There is much common ground between the UK’s and the EU’s positions on citizens’ rights. We are both clear that we want to protect the broad range of rights and entitlements currently enjoyed by both EU citizens in the UK and UK nationals in the EU. While there are, naturally, points on which our positions differ, we are confident we can reach agreement early in the negotiations.

The Citizens’ Rights Working Group completed a mapping of the areas of alignment and divergence between the EU and UK positions, to prioritise future discussions. It can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/joint-technical-note-on-the-comparison-of-eu-uk-positions-on-citizens-rights.