Fury as peers vote to keep human rights laws

THERESA May’s Brexit plans last night suffered a fresh defeat after the House of Lords voted to keep a key EU human rights charter.

Peers voted by 316 to 245 in favour of enshrining the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights into UK law.

The Government was last night expected to try to overturn the reversal in a Commons vote next month.

Ministers had warned that a proposed amendment to the Government’s EU Withdrawal Bill would enshrine “a body of foreign law” on to Britain’s statute book. Tory frontbench peer Lord Keen said: “It would reflect not only a constitutional outrage but a total abdication of our responsibilities.”

Later, the Government suffered another defeat in the Lords when peers backed an amendment designed to prevent ministers from specifying in regulations when people can bring legal challenges against the validity of EU rules transferred into UK law.

Peers voted by 285 to 235 in favour of the amendment. A spokesman for the Department for Exiting the EU said: “We are disappointed that the House of Lords has voted for this amendment in spite of the assurances we have provided.

“The Charter of Fundamental rights was never the source of rights in the UK – it simply reaffirmed rights that already existed in EU law.

“We will review this decision when the Bill returns to the House of Commons to ensure we deliver a workable piece of legislation that provides certainty as we leave.”