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Leading Vote Leave figure Gisela Stuart says EU citizens in the UK have been “left in limbo” since the referendum.

The Labour MP will head a research project on how to protect their rights after the UK leaves the EU.

The cross-party inquiry, for the British Future think tank, will examine what kind of legal status could be granted to EU citizens in the UK.

Ministers have indicated they want to protect EU citizens’ status – as long as a reciprocal deal can be negotiated.

But MPs from all parties have attacked the government’s stance, saying people “are not bargaining chips”.

Ms Stuart, former co-chair of the Vote Leave campaign, said the government should make clear “soon” that EU citizens in the UK – about three million people – will be allowed to stay after Brexit.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said she did not want to pre-empt her inquiry by specifying a cut-off date by which the EU nationals would need to have arrived in the UK to secure protected status.

‘Right thing’

But she added that 23 June – the day of the referendum – was a “very significant date”, after which “people knew what was coming”.

She said the government should “take the initiative” and say it was protecting EU citizens’ rights and that it expected the same treatment for UK nationals abroad.

Ministers, she added, should demonstrate that leaving the EU “doesn’t mean that we’re ignoring people’s rights”.

“There is wide agreement, among the public, politicians and business, that EU citizens are welcome here and that the government should make clear they can stay,” Ms Stuart said.

“This is the right thing to do and what the Leave campaign promised all along.”

‘Practical questions’

She said she was “confident” the government would guarantee EU nationals status, after which there are “a whole series of practical questions that need to be answered”.

“What legal status people will people have? How do they prove eligibility to stay? When is the cut-off date and how do we manage any possible migration surge ahead of it?”.

The inquiry, which will publish its report in the autumn, will also look at what healthcare and welfare rights would be afforded to EU citizens in the UK.