The Prime Minister warned she cannot guarantee the right of EU citizens to remain in the UK if she fails to secure a Brexit deal with Brussels.
And she admitted that rights held by the more than three million EU citizens could “fall away” if the hoped-for agreement is not sealed by the date of Brexit in March 2019.
Mrs May said she wanted to ensure EU citizens currently living in the UK could remain after Brexit in 2019.
She added: “We want you to stay. We want to ensure you can stay in the UK.
“We are not going to be throwing EU citizens who are currently in the UK out of the UK in the future.”
However, she refused to confirm that EU nationals could remain with the same rights they currently enjoy if the Brexit negotiations failed.
And asked what would happen to UK nationals living in the EU if there was no exit deal, the PM claimed it was out of her control – saying: “We don’t know what would happen to them.
“The EU members states would have to consider what their approach would be to the UK citizens. This is one of the reasons we want to get a deal.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen. We are working to get a good deal. We don’t know what’s going to happen.
“If there is no deal then we have to be prepared for it.
“If there isn’t a deal then we won’t have been able to agree with the EU what happens with UK citizens currently living in countries like Spain, Italy and other members of the EU.”
However, Mrs May insisted the British Government was “very close to an agreement on citizens rights” with the EU.
Her comments last night come after she told MPs the country should be prepared for talks to collapse.
The stark warning was seen as a sign a no deal outcome could become more likely than previously believed, follow Mrs May’s insistence that “no deal is better than a bad deal”
Speaking to LBC, Mrs May also refused to reveal which way she would vote if another EU referendum was held today.
She said: “I voted ‘Remain’ for good reasons at the time.
“I could sit here and I could say I’d still vote ‘Remain’ or I’d vote ‘Leave’ just to give you an answer.
“But we are not having another referendum.”