UK has more EU citizens than some member states, Gove says

The United Kingdom has granted settled status to 4.3 million European Union citizens, more than the population of some of the bloc's member states, indicating that Brexit has not led to a vast exodus of EU nationals, a senior minister said on Monday.

The United Kingdom has granted settled status to 4.3 million European Union citizens, more than the population of some of the bloc's member states, indicating that Brexit has not led to a vast exodus of EU nationals, a senior minister said on Monday. "There have been 4.9 million applications and 4.3 million grants of status, so there are more EU citizens in the UK than in some member states - which is great," Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove told a parliamentary committee.

"It is a great advertisement for this country," Gove. "People have chosen to stay in unprecedented numbers." "It gives a lie to some of the nonsense that was propagated at the time of the Brexit vote that somehow the UK was less welcoming or that EU citizens would leave, or that there would be harm to our universities or to our healthcare sector," Gove said.