Unexpectedly, reactions from Brussels over the leaked Home Office immigration plans obtained by the Guardian has not been forthcoming, probably due to the lack of official credence.

• Various media comments

Nevertheless, Europe’s media commentators would not keep mute on the potential plan and has dubbed it an “extension of Donald Trump’s immigration policies”, a “desperate adventure that would hurt the UK economy and jeopardise Brexit talks”, and an indication that the UK is heading for “self-imposed isolation and hard work” after Brexit, according to the Guardian

Stefanie Bolzen, the London correspondent of Germany’s centre-right daily Die Welt who titled her opinion piece “This is how desperate the British government has become,” said the tough trajectory signalled by the plans “will only intensify the Brexit dilemma”.

London correspondent of France’s Le Monde, Philippe Bernard, was also of the opinion that, the British plan to allow only two years residency for low-skilled workers upon Brexit meant Britain intended to “pull up the drawbridge” after Brexit

• Another perspective of Stefanie

In her another view, Stefanie Bolzen said, the plan would unavoidably fuel the herring unprogressive negotiations between the EU and UK”

She argued, “But the plans would also backfire on a legal level”. “If the Brits want to curtail EU freedom of movement so drastically, they won’t get a transitional phase. In the end, the climate of insecurity could only damage the UK economy further and hit hardest those Theresa May claimed her politics were meant to favour,” she added.

The Italian daily La Repubblica insisted that, “although Britain was not proposing a wall, the call for enhanced controls and the use of biometrics, as well as the preference to be given to British workers, reflected a UK version of Trump’s ‘America first’ pledge”.

The 82-page leaked document, dictates that, preference would only be given to Britons and would clampdown on the influx of low-skilled EU nationals coming into the UK by reducing their stay to two years.

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