Article 50 author warns Government over citizens’ rights

The author of Article 50 has said the Government should take the issue of citizens’ rights “off the table right now” in the Brexit negotiations by guaranteeing the status of EU nationals in the UK.

Lord Kerr of Kinlochard was confident Brussels would reciprocate and argued it was a “win-win” situation.

He warned while both the EU and UK had said the status of EU citizens in the UK and Britons living in other member states was a priority, this risked being delayed by other contentious issues.

Lord Kerr said this could be averted if before the EU’s draft negotiation guidelines were approved later this month, the Government “were to do the decent thing. The moral, the economic and sensible thing”.

He told peers: “The Government should be announcing now that those non-UK EU citizens living here will retain the right to do so and that we expect our partners to follow suit.”

“They would follow suit. It is a winwin and they would see that too, they do see that too. We should take the issue off the table right now.”

Lord Kerr was speaking during a debate on two Labour motions seeking to require the Government to update peers over progress to secure the rights of EU nationals living in the UK and commit to a “meaningful vote” on the Brexit deal.

He stressed the need for Parliament to have a role, particularly in the event of no agreement being reached.

Lord Kerr said: “If the Government were headed for the cliff edge, Parliament must be given the chance to require them to think again.

“To seek an extension of the negotiations or to consult the country.

“Parliament needs to work out how best to ensure that it gets its say on the merging outcome of the negotiations … particularly if the outcome is no deal.”