House of Lords votes to protect EU citizens’ rights
Call for May to ‘think again’ as peers pass amendment to Brexit bill
The House of Lords has voted by an overwhelming majority to guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in the UK after Brexit, in defiance of Theresa May.
Peers backed an amendment to the government’s Article 50 Bill — which will give Mrs May the power to trigger the formal Brexit process — by a majority of 102.
The amendment requires the government to guarantee unilaterally that EU citizens living in the UK will retain all the rights they currently enjoy once Britain leaves the bloc.
The government had argued that Britain should wait until other EU countries offered reciprocal guarantee for UK citizens abroad. However peers found that unpersuasive.
The vote was the biggest turnout by peers since 1999, according to the House of Lords library.
A number of Tories voted against the government after a passionate debate in which several Conservatives spoke out.
Conservative peer Lord Bowness warned the government not to “bargain with people”, saying: “We are not dealing with enemy aliens in times of war.”
He did not wish to be associated with the government’s “mean-spirited” position, he said.
Former Tory minister Viscount Hailsham also argued in favour of the amendment, saying that it “offends natural justice” to remove rights from EU citizens retrospectively.
The peers’ decision came despite assurances from Amber Rudd, the home secretary, that reciprocal rights would be an early priority in the Brexit negotiations.
The legislation will now return to the House of Commons, which voted by a majority of 42 against a similar amendment last month.
A Tory aide said the government was confident that it would have a majority in favour of excising the peers’ amendment, and opposition peers have indicated they are unlikely to have the appetite for a prolonged fight.
But Keir Starmer, shadow Brexit secretary, said Labour would now back the amendment — despite Labour siding with the government when the Bill was discussed by MPs.
Richard Newby, the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Lords, called on Theresa May, the prime minister, to “think again”.
“Theresa May has been stubbornly determined to use EU citizens in the UK as bargaining chips. Today the Lords have told her this is not acceptable,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Department for Exiting the EU said it was disappointing that the Lords had chosen to amend the bill when the government’s position on EU nationals “has repeatedly been made clear”.
The spokesperson said: “We want to guarantee the rights of EU citizens who are already living in Britain, and the rights of British nationals living in other member states, as early as we can.”
Ahead of the vote, Ms Rudd wrote to peers urging them not to go against the government.
Ministers had the “utmost respect” for EU citizens and wanted to guarantee their rights as quickly as possible, Ms Rudd said.
However, she added that a “one-sided guarantee” from the UK could damage the interests of British people living abroad who could “end up facing two years of uncertainty if any urgency to resolve their status were removed”.
In the letter, which was similar to one the home secretary had previously sent to MPs, Ms Rudd promised that “nothing will change for any EU citizen, whether already resident in the UK or moving from the EU, without parliament’s approval”.
She blamed “a few EU countries” for rebuffing the UK government’s attempts to reach a reciprocal agreement for UK citizens living abroad before formal negotiations begin.
Baroness Smith, Labour’s leader in the Lords, said the letter was “deeply disappointing”, adding: “Confirming the rights of those EU citizens living in the UK can only be of benefit to our citizens worried about their future in EU countries.”
Peers will further challenge the government next week, when they will attempt to force ministers to grant parliament a “meaningful” vote on the final terms of the exit deal once Mrs May’s negotiations have concluded. .
Mrs May has said she plans to trigger Article 50 by the end of this month.