Rudd: EU citizens not 'bargaining chips'

EU citizens living in the UK are not "bargaining chips" and "need certainty" on their position in the country post-Brexit, the Home Secretary has said.

Amber Rudd added that as well as the three million EU nationals in the UK, the one million British citizens living elsewhere in the European Union also needed guarantees.

Appearing on Good Morning Britain (GMB), Ms Rudd said a solution to the issue needed to be one of the first decisions made in EU exit negotiations.

When questioned whether negotiations on the future of EU citizens should be held back to be played "like a poker card" at a later stage, the 53-year-old countered: "We don't view them as bargaining chips they need certainty."

Ms Rudd continued that the four million people affected by the decision were "important parts of communities", having lived in their country of choice in some cases for decades.