Minister says Brexit transition should include access to EU workers

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British firms should have access to European Union workers during a post-Brexit transitional period, a senior minister said on Friday following reports of a cabinet agreement that the EU's free movement rules could continue to apply for up to two years.

Concerns over immigration were a key driver behind last year's vote to leave the EU, and the government has made controlling Britain's borders the focal point of Brexit plans and the main reason for its decision to leave the EU single market.

British media reported on Friday that finance minister Philip Hammond, one of May's most prominent pro-European ministers, had won cabinet backing for a plan to allow free movement of people to continue for at least two years after Brexit.

UK Border control is seen in Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport in London June 4, 2014. /Reuters Photo

One of the leading pro-Brexit members of May's cabinet, environment minister Michael Gove, said there was no opposition to a transitional arrangement that involved access to EU workers.

"The prime minister has made clear, as we leave the European Union we will have an implementation period which will ensure that we can continue to have, not just access to labor, but the economic stability and certainty which business requests," he said according to media reports of a speech he made on Friday.

As part of Hammond's plans, EU citizens would remain free to move to Britain for up to two years after March 2019, when Britain is due to leave the bloc, The Times newspaper reported on Friday.

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Asked about the reports, May's office pointed to the speech the prime minister made in January to set out her Brexit position, in which she called for a "phased process of implementation" to allow businesses time to prepare.

A report published by a committee of lawmakers from Britain's upper house of parliament also stressed the importance of phasing in any immigration controls.

"It will take companies time to adapt their business models to be less dependent on EU workers and an implementation period is essential to ensure a smooth transition," said Michael Forsyth, chairman of the economics committee of the House of Lords.

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The report said the necessary training of the British workforce and investment in new technologies could take a number of years, and businesses would need to retain access to the EU labor market during this time.

The committee of lawmakers also said that without improvements to the accuracy of migration data the government would struggle to control immigration after Brexit as it would be formulating policy "in the dark."

Existing data does not provide an accurate number of migrants entering or leaving the country, or the number of migrants in work, it said, calling on the government to work to improve the data before basing new policy on it.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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