Fury as unelected peers deal a blow to May’s Brexit bill

Lords try to obstruct will of Commons by insisting EU citizens living here must be allowed to remain

UNELECTED peers inflicted a heavy defeat on the Government last night over the legislation needed to take Britain out of the EU.

Pro- Remain Tories joined Labour, the Lib Dems and independent cross-bench peers to push through an amendment to the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill, which gives Theresa May the authority to trigger Brexit.

The move was backed by 358 votes to 256 – a majority of 102 against the Government.

Rebels claimed it would effectively force the Prime Minister to guarantee unilaterally the rights after Brexit of 3.3million EU citizens living in the UK – even though the European Union has refused to discuss the rights of 1.2million Britons living in other member states.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd, whose last-ditch plea to peers on the issue was ignored, sat in for part of the debate.

The Government accused peers of ignoring assurances from Mrs May that the issue would be dealt with as a priority during Brexit talks.

Ministers last night vowed to overturn the vote when it returns to the Commons this month. MPs have already rejected a similar amendment by a majority of 42.

Seven Tory peers voted against the Government, despite a heavy whipping operation in the Lords.

They were led by Viscount Hailsham, who, as Tory MP Douglas Hogg, became the poster boy of the expenses scandal after it emerged he had claimed £2,200 to have the moat cleaned at his country house.

The hereditary peer urged peers to ‘take the high moral ground’ by making a unilateral decision.

Fellow Tory Lord Bowness insisted the rebellion was ‘ not denying the will of the British people’.

He added: ‘I don’t want to be associated with a motion that appears mean-spirited.’

A Government source last night described the tone of the Lords debate as ‘hysterical’.

The other Tory rebels were former pensions minister Baroness Altmann, former trade minister Lord Livingston, former Times journalist Baroness Wheatcroft, former Tory MP Lord Cormack and hereditary peer Earl Selborne.

Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith accused peers of ‘posturing’, saying the amendment would have little effect and was almost cer- tain to be overturned by MPs. He also expressed surprise at the leading role played by Lord Hailsham, saying: ‘That man knows about the moral high ground, does he?’

Mr Duncan Smith added: ‘This is a ludicrous amendment – it says more about them than it does about Brexit.

‘It is about them puffing up their chests and saying they are going to make their point. In the end, it will make no difference.’

Labour MP and prominent Leave campaigner Gisela Stuart said there would be plenty of opportunity to debate the detail of Brexit and urged peers to and let Mrs May trigger Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon, allowing negotiations for Britain’s withdrawal from the EU to begin.

She added: ‘The British people voted in their millions to leave the EU, and their elected MPs passed the Article 50 Bill without amendment,’ she said.

‘The House of Lords should do the same and not seek to frustrate the Brexit process.’

But Labour peer Baroness Hayter, who moved the amendment, said three million EU nationals were being used as ‘negotiating capital’ by the Home Office and raised concerns about Britons living abroad.

‘These two groups of people should not be traded against each other,’ she said, adding that it was ‘in the gift’ of the UK Government to decide how to treat people resident here.

Ministers believe it would be wrong to guarantee the rights of EU citizens here without getting similar reassurances for Britons living abroad at the same time.

A Government spokesman said: ‘We are disappointed the Lords have chosen to amend a Bill the Commons passed without amendment.

‘The Bill has a straightforward purpose – to enact the referendum result and allow the Government to get on with negotiations.

‘Our position on EU nationals has repeatedly been made clear.

‘We want to guarantee the rights of EU citizens already living in Britain, and the rights of British nationals living in other member states, as early as we can.’

Former Conservative Party chair-

‘This is a ludicrous amendment’

man Lord Tebbit, who was jeered by some pro-Remain peers, said: ‘It seems to me that the first duty of this Parliament of the United Kingdom is to care for the interests of the citizens of this kingdom.’

He added: ‘Somehow or other we seem to be thinking of nothing but the rights of foreigners.’

Peers are expected to inflict at least one further defeat on the Government next week by demanding a veto on the final Brexit deal.

The legislation will then go back to the Commons when MPs are expected to strip out all of the amendments, leaving the Prime Minister free to trigger Brexit by the end of this month.