The Birmingham MP who helped lead the campaign to take the UK out of the European Union is to chair a new inquiry into how to protect the rights of EU citizens living here.
Gisela Stuart, Labour MP for Edgbaston, will look at how the British Government can protect the rights of the 3 million EU citizens living in the UK after Brexit.
She was chair of the Vote Leave campaign, which campaigned for a "leave" vote in June's referendum.
But the MP was condemned by Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron.
He said: "It is like the arsonist turning round and saying they are surprised that a fire took hold."
One of the promises of the leave campaign was that quitting the EU would allow the UK to take back control of its borders and end freedom of movement, which currently means anybody from any part of the EU has a right to live and work here.
Mrs Stuart argued during the campaign that anybody who had already come to the UK legally would be welcome to stay.
But that promise has been thrown into doubt, with the Government warning that it will make no guarantees unless EU nations also guarantee that British residents in their countries are allowed to stay too.
The inquiry, set up by think tank British Future, will meet in September and October 2016 and has cross-party, business and trade union support.
It will report in autumn or winter 2016, setting out recommendations about how to resolve the status of EU nationals living in the UK.
ICM research for British Future found that 84 per cent of the British public supports letting EU migrants stay, including three-quarters (77%) of Leave voters, with any future changes to freedom of movement applying only to new migrants.
The Inquiry will start from the position that letting EU citizens stay in the UK is the right thing to do. Its aim will be to examine how to make this work in practice, and to make practical recommendations to the Government.
Mrs Stuart said: "There is wide agreement, among the public, politicians and business, that EU citizens are welcome here and that the Government should make clear they can stay.
"This is the right thing to do and what the Leave campaign promised all along.
"We must honour that promise and we should do it soon – it’s not right that people are left in limbo waiting to hear what their future holds.
"Once that happens – and I’m confident it will – there will then be a whole series of practical questions that need to be answered. What legal status people will people have? How do they prove eligibility to stay? When is the cut-off date and how do we manage any possible migration surge ahead of it?
"What this Inquiry sets out to do is consult people and organisations with expertise on these questions and make practical recommendations to the Government about how to resolve them swiftly and in everyone’s best interests."
Those wishing to submit evidence to the Inquiry should contact British Future at info@britishfuture.org .
