Theresa May's government has vowed to resist and changes to a Bill authorising her to start formal Brexit negotiations and to overturn an amendment passed by the House of Lords on Wednesday night. The Lords voted by a majority of 102 to add to the Bill a guarantee that EU nationals now living in Britain will continue to enjoy their current rights after the country leaves the EU.
Brexit secretary David Davis said on Thursday that agreeing a generous settlement for EU nationals in Britain and for British nationals in the EU would be the first item on the agenda when formal talks begin.
“That is not just about the right to remain, which is what people mostly focus on, but things like pensions and healthcare, social support, welfare as well. We want to get that all right and we want to do it soon,” he said during a visit to Copenhagen.
“If we had had our way, we would have actually got an agreement in principle at least in December, at the December council, but we couldn’t get everybody to agree at that point. It will be the first thing on our agenda. I would hope that we would get some agreement in principle very, very soon, as soon as the negotiation process starts.”
‘Morality and principle’
One of the peers who backed the amendment claimed that up to 30 Conservative MPs could rebel against the government when the Bill returns to the Commons. Molly Meacher appealed to Conservative MPs' "morality and principle", urging them to guarantee the rights of tens of thousands of EU nationals who are uncertain about their future after Brexit. And she rejected the government's argument that a unilateral guarantee could weaken its negotiating position on the rights of British citizens in the EU.
“UK nationals in the EU have been getting together and putting pressure on us in the House of Lords to pass this amendment to keep this issue outside and ahead of the negotiations,” she told the BBC. “They believe, and I share the belief, that their only hope of getting their situation sorted out ahead of the negotiation is precisely if the British government act morally to do a deal on EU citizens.”
Lady Meacher's estimate of the number of potential Conservative rebels in the Commons appears optimistic in the light of the failure of a majority of MPs to back a similar amendment last month. The prime minister's official spokesman said on Thursday that the government was disappointed with the Lords' vote and made clear that Ms May would resist any changes to the legislation.
“The Lords has its own role to carry out, and it’s important that it carries that out. It’s right that they scrutinise legislation that’s passed up to them; I think we’ve seen a very healthy and vigorous debate in the Lords; but we’re very clear on our ambition that this Bill be passed unamended,” he said.
Self-imposed deadline
Mr Davis said the government was confident that the prime minister will still be able to trigger article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty before her self-imposed deadline of the end of March. He declined to be drawn on a suggestion from the European Commission that Britain would have to pay up to €60 billion to settle its financial obligations to the EU before leaving.
“We are a country which believes in the rule of law and we take our responsibilities seriously – but we think this is something that needs to be dealt with alongside the issue of markets, the issue of other relationships between us and at the end of this we will come to an amicable agreement. But we are not at that stage,” he said.
