We will guarantee the rights and status of EU citizens who've moved here to the UK but the EU offers no such reciprocal deal.
This is so funny, Day6, though I doubt you intended it to be.
Just after the referendum there were heated debates on this forum about whether or not the rights of people from other EU countries currently living in the UK should be guaranteed. As I recall it, the Leavers were vehemently against the UK making an immediate unilateral declaration of guaranteeing those rights. "Oh no!" they all said. "Rights are a bargaining chip. We shouldn't give 'them' any rights unless we're getting a reciprocal guarantee for UK citizens"
So the UK government pratts about for 2 years, failing to come up with a coherent plan that the tory party (and leading Brexiters) can agree with and reneging on agreements, all the time clutching their 'citizens' rights' chip to their chests. But now, when things are starting to look just a tad desperate for the UK, and there doesn't seem to be a lot left to offer the EU, the UK has produced their chip with a flourish.
And, guess what? The EU states are so pissed off with idiocy and incompetence shown by the UK in 'negotiations' over the past 2 years that they just aren't interested in our 'chip'.
Karma...