We will introduce, immediately, much tougher criminality rules for people entering the UK

Downing Street spokesman

Downing Street has confirmed the system allowing European Union citizens to freely live and work in the UK would “look different” after Britain leaves the bloc. A spokeswoman said: “Freedom of movement as it currently stands will end on October 31 when the UK leaves the EU. “So for example we will introduce, immediately, much tougher criminality rules for people entering the UK.”

Details of other changes are being developed and will be set out by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel.

Mr Johnson is on record as saying he wants an Australian-style points-based immigration system tailored to suit the UK’s needs after Brexit.

The spokeswoman said EU citizens who currently live in the UK would not be prevented from re-entering the country after trips abroad, although it was unclear how checks would be carried out.

The system allowing EU citizens to apply for settled status would be unchanged and the two million who had not yet completed the process would not be prevented from entering the UK by the ending of free movement.

The spokeswoman added: “The Home Office have set out that no one eligible for settled status will be unable to re-enter the UK when free movement ends and they have obviously been doing a significant amount of work to communicate how you apply.”

A House of Commons briefing paper published on July 23 reveals that, out of an overall prison population for England and Wales of 82,634, 9,069 are from overseas.

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Of these, almost half, 4,102, equal to 43 percent of them, are from countries within the European Economic Area, with a further 11 percent being from non-EEA countries in Europe.

Earlier this month, Ms Patel told the Daily Mail: “I’ve always felt the Conservative Party is the party of the police and police officers.

“Quite frankly, with more police officers out there and greater police presence, I want criminals to literally feel terror at the thought of committing offences.

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“My focus now is restating our commitment to law and order and restating our commitment to the people on the front line, the police.

“The key thing is that we empower them to stop criminality.”

Ms Patel was last week urged by the Centre for Social Justice, the right-wing think tank founded by former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, to require all immigrant workers to earn a minimum of £36,700 to live and work in the UK.

The 3 Million group, which campaigns for the rights of EU citizens in the UK, said in a statement: “The idea of ending freedom of movement abruptly on October 31 in case of no-deal is reckless politics.

“It hollows out the Prime Minister’s unequivocal guarantee to EU citizens he has given only three weeks ago.

“Ending freedom of movement without putting legal provisions in place for those EU citizens who have not yet successfully applied through the settlement scheme will mean that millions of lawful citizens will have their legal status removed overnight.

“We have been calling for the settlement scheme to be a declaratory registration scheme, so all EU citizens who have made the UK their home are automatically granted status, as promised by those in Government.

“Otherwise this will open the door to mass discrimination under the hostile environment with employers, landlords, banks and the NHS unable to distinguish between those EU citizens with the right to live and work in the UK and those without.”

Labour MP Yvette Cooper, chairwoman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, said the panel had warned months ago that the Home Office “needed a proper plan or they would end up with a repeat of the Windrush scandal”.

She added: “The Prime Minister says he is committed to guaranteeing the rights and protections of EU citizens, but the EU settled status scheme for existing residents is still in its early stages, and most people haven’t yet been through the scheme.”

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