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REUTERS
LONDON
BRITISH firms should have access to European Union workers during a post-Brexit transitional period, a senior minister said on Friday following reports of a cabinet agreement that the EU's free movement rules could continue to apply for up to two years.
Concerns over immigration were a key driver behind last year's vote to leave the EU, and the government has made controlling Britain's borders central to its Brexit plans and the main reason for its decision to leave the EU single market.
But last month's national election, in which voters stripped Prime Minister Theresa May of her parliamentary majority, has reopened the debate about what kind of future relationship with the EU Britain should pursue, with the government promising to seek as wide a consensus as possible.
Any position Britain adopts will be subject to negotiation with the EU, which on Thursday demanded more clarity from ministers after the first full round of exit talks ended with limited progress.
Media reported on Friday that finance minister Philip Hammond, one of May's most prominent pro-European ministers, had won cabinet backing for a plan to allow free movement of people to continue for at least two years after Brexit.
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22/07/2017
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