Ministers could allow EU migrants to still send child benefits back to the continent post-Brexit, says report
Claim that Cabinet's Brexit committee sent document recommending those already living here keep their welfare rights – potentially breaking a 2015 manifesto pledge
MINISTERS are reportedly considering allowing EU migrants to still send child benefits back to the continent post-Brexit.
A document allegedly sent to the Cabinet's Brexit committee recommends that the three million people from Europe already living here would get to keep their welfare rights.
The report, which appears in , would potentially break a 2015 manifesto pledge to restrict tax credits and child benefits to EU migrants who have been in the country for four years.
It says ministers were sent the document by the Department for Exiting the European Union, which recommends those who arrive after Theresa May triggers Article 50 on Wednesday will not keep the benefits.
But the Government has been warned that any attempt to withdraw them from those already here would risk Brussels taking tit-for-tat action to restrict health and pension rights of British expats in the EU, the newspaper said.
The report comes just weeks after the Tories were forced to U-turn on Budget plans to increase national insurance rates for the self-employed because they broke a manifesto promise.
Mrs May has said resolving the rights of EU nationals in the UK and British expats in Europe will be one of her early priorities in negotiations.
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But European Commission chief negotiator Michel Barnier warned last week it could take "several months" before their post-Brexit settlement rights can be guaranteed.
A government spokeswoman said: "This is speculation and we do not comment on leaks from Cabinet.
"We have said we want to secure the rights of EU nationals already in the UK, and UK nationals in the EU.
"But no decisions of the kind speculated about here have been taken.
"We are clear that when the UK leaves the EU, it will make its own decisions about immigration."