Britons might need to pay for permission to visit EU, Rudd confirms

Britons might have to apply for advance permission to travel to the EU, the home secretary has conceded, warning that the prospect of such restrictions is likely to form part of the negotiations over departure.

In her first significant interview since taking over the post in July, Amber Rudd said the possible need to apply for permission to travel under a visa waiver scheme being considered by the European commission was not the preferred option but could not be discounted.

Rudd also raised the possibility of making it necessary for EU migrants to the UK to have work permits, saying the idea “certainly has value”.

Appearing on BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Rudd was asked whether UK nationals might be shocked to have to pay for permission to visit France. She replied: “I think they would be surprised. I don’t think it’s particularly desirable, but we don’t rule it out, because we have to be allowed a free hand to get the best negotiations.”

Rudd added: “My reaction to that is it’s a reminder that this is a two-way negotiation. The EU and the commissioners may be considering issues, alternatives. They will be considering their negotiations with us, just as we are with them. But I’m going to make sure that what we do get is in the best interests of the UK.”

On Saturday, the Guardian reported that as part of draft European commission legislation for a proposed EU travel information and authorisation system, France and Germany have backed a system based on the US Esta scheme. Under the American system, visitors from countries that do not require full visas are required to apply online for permission to travel at a cost of $14 (£11).

Such a scheme, if imposed, could end up applying to travellers from a UK no longer in the EU, legal experts said.

Opposition parties expressed alarm at Rudd’s comments. Andy Burnham, the shadow home secretary, said they pointed to “yet another example of the drift and confusion as a result of the government’s failure to plan for Brexit”.

The Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, said the prospect of advance travel permission was “another sign that things are happening around this Brexit Tory government and all they seem to do is squabble amongst themselves”.

Rudd, a prominent supporter of remaining in the EU before the June referendum, otherwise gave very few details of how she might seek to balance controlling immigration numbers from the EU with keeping some access to the bloc’s single market.

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“What I do think the British public voted for was to make sure that we reduce immigration from the European Union,” Rudd said. “That’s a given. We have to find a way of doing that. I wouldn’t necessarily say what it means to do with the single market, but what I would say is we have to work out how we can do that, while promoting and protecting the economy.”

There are increasing signs within the government of internal jostling to push forward competing models for how Brexit might look. After David Davis, the secretary of state for exiting the EU, was corrected by Downing Street after telling MPs it was unlikely Britain would stay in the single market, Boris Johnson has endorsed a new alliance of pro-Brexit politicians aimed at pressuring Theresa May into fully delivering on leaving the EU.

Johnson, the foreign secretary and a prominent leave campaigner, said the Change Britain campaign, led by the pro-Brexit Labour MP Gisela Stuart and backed by Michael Gove, among others, would ensure the UK gained control over “laws, borders, money and trade”.

Change Britain immediately faced questions over the much-repeated claim by leave campaigners before the referendum that Brexit could see an extra £350m a week spent on the NHS.

More than 20 Labour MPs have written an open letter to Change Britain, asking for an apology if the promise is not kept.

The letter says: “They cannot walk away from it now, disown it or pretend it never happened. They must either admit it was a lie and apologise to their voters, or justify it and explain when it is coming.”

Speaking on Sunday, Stuart denied that anyone had been misled or that the pledge had been dropped. “For me, the priority was the NHS, but you need to be in government to actually implement that,” she said.