CITY MP Robin Walker has welcomed the government’s announcement to scrap an EU citizens fee and says he remains hopeful a Brexit deal can still be reached, as talks between Prime Minister Theresa May and MPs continues.

Last week the PM's withdrawal agreement was rejected by 230 in the Commons - the worse ever defeat for a government. But Mrs May bounced back 24 hours later surviving a vote of no confidence.

In a Commons statement yesterday the PM announced that the £65 fee millions of EU citizens were going to have to pay to secure the right to continue living in the UK after Brexit, was being scrapped.

Mr Walker said: “At a meeting with EU citizens (on Friday) the biggest request was ending the fee for people who had been here a long time. I fed that back to number 10 so it is positive news.”

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The PM's statement to MPs also addressed how she plans to get them to back a Brexit deal, with Mrs May saying she would have further discussions with Northern Ireland’s DUP on their concerns about the Irish backstop and would continue to speak to opposition MPs, taking the conclusions of discussions back to the EU.

MPs are due to vote on any proposal next Tuesday.

Mr Walker said: "The PM is having talks across the house, with talks with the DUP addressing the backstop, and next Tuesday there will be a vote.

"The European Union want to understand what we are for, to reach a deal that will get through parliament.

“There is a lot of uncertainly. It has been a tough couple of weeks, but part of our job in government is to reduce the uncertainly."

The Brexit minister said there was also good news as he had signed a bilateral treaty with Spain securing the respective rights of UK and Spanish citizens to vote and run in local elections.

"I have written to every other state in Europe, saying we would like to do a similar deal with everybody,” the MP said.

“It shows something we can do at the moment, deal or no deal.”