UK Government vows to overturn Lords amendement on right of EU citizens to stay

House of Lords - PA

Theresa May and her ministers have vowed to overturn a defeat in the House of Lords after peers overwhelmingly backed calls to guarantee the rights of EU citizens to remain in the UK after Brexit.

Peers voted by 358 to 256 in favour of a Labour-led cross-party amendment to the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill giving the Prime Minister the authority to trigger Article 50.

The Government said it was “disappointed” by the vote but made clear that its position has not changed on the issue of EU citizens, and that Theresa May’s timetable for triggering Article 50 would not be derailed.

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A government source said ministers were determined to pass the “simple bill”, and reverse the Lords’ amendment when the legislation heads back to the Commons.

“The intention is to seek to overturn this in the House of Commons,” the source added.

A spokesman for the Department for Exiting the EU said: "We are disappointed the Lords have chosen to amend a bill that the Commons passed without amendment. The Bill has a straightforward purpose - to enact the referendum result and allow the government to get on with the negotiations.

“Our position on EU nationals has repeatedly been made clear. 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."

Earlier Scottish Secretary David Mundell had refused to provide any guarantee on the rights of EU citizens to remain in Scotland.

May has insisted that no guarantees on EU citizens’ right to remain post-Brexit should be granted without equivalent assurances for Britons living abroad in other EU member states.

The SNP welcomed the Lords amendment. Westminster Europe spokesperson Stephen Gethins said: “The House of Lords has done what the House of Commons failed to do in the very short debating time afforded, and that is to hold this government to account over the status of citizens who contribute so much to our society. 

"By passing this amendment the UK government must now abandon its bargaining chips position of using people, their livelihoods, their jobs and their future as part of their negotiations."

The Prime Minister has pledged to invoke Article 50 before the end of March, with indications government reportedly plans to invoke the Brexit process on 15 March.

Seven Tory peers rebelled and backed the amendment last night.

The amendment backed last night by peers, proposed by Labour peer Baroness Hayter, requires ministers to introduce proposals within three months of Article 50 being triggered to ensure EU citizens in Britain have the same residence rights after Brexit.

Lib Dem Baroness Ludford, who also put her name to the amendment, told peers yesterday: “The Government is not holding EU citizens here as hostage and a bargaining chip for British citizens in the rest of the EU, but for other goals and it is disingenuous to inflame the fears of British people settled elsewhere in Europe that their case will be undermined by a unilateral move by the British government."

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Twitter that the Government must “do the decent thing” and guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in the UK.

Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer said: "This is a really welcome and important step forward. For months Labour has been urging the Prime Minister to end unnecessary uncertainty for EU citizens in the UK, and I am delighted our colleagues in the Lords have sent this clear message to the Prime Minister."