Theresa May to outline guarantees for EU expats in Britain

UK Prime Minister Theresa May will outline on Thursday her approach to the "hugely important issue" of reassuring EU expatriates about their futures in Britain at a dinner for EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday night.

The status of the 3 million citizens from elsewhere in the EU who have already settled in the UK has been a contentious issue since the immediate aftermath of the referendum.

On the first day of the two-day EU summit, May will address the other 27 leaders and describe "principles" of her plan. May has repeatedly insisted she is not willing to guarantee their future without a reciprocal pledge about the future of British citizens living in other EU countries.

Britain’s policy will be laid out in more detail in a government paper likely to be published on Monday.

Once May leaves the room, they will continue their own discussion of Britain's departure from the European Union.

"My understanding all along is that this is a hugely important issue for Britain and for the 27 that has been clear from the very outset of this process," a senior British government source said of the question of EU expatriates.

"We want to provide early assurance, and it has always been our position that we want to outline our principles at this dinner and that is what we are going to do."

The summit will be the first meeting between May and EU leaders since her Conservative party unexpectedly lost its majority in a 8 June election, leaving her in charge of a so-called "zombie government".