The House of Commons voted down a motion on Wednesday – proposed by SNP Justice and Home Affairs spokesperson Joanna Cherry – to “ensure that all nationals from other countries in the EU who have made the UK their home retain their current rights”.
MPs voted 293 to 250 against, with Noes coming exclusively from the Tories and the Democratic Unionist Party.
The government’s reasoning is simple: it must not guarantee these rights, so as to be able to demand reciprocity in Brexit negotiations and ensure the rights of UK nationals in Europe. International trade secretary Liam Fox has described EU nationals in Britain as “one of our main cards” in the upcoming Brexit negotiations.
This argument is understandable, if ignoble. But before and after the referendum, some key Brexiters took steps to guarantee the right of EU citizens to remain. Nevertheless, Boris Johnson, David Davis and Michael Gove still voted against the motion.
The foreign secretary Boris Johnson had backed a similar motion in July. That motion, proposed by Andy Burnham, passed by 245 votes to two. Boris Johnson said then he wanted to “set on record that the Vote Leave campaign gave exactly this reassurance to people living and working here, and it is very disappointing this should be called into question”.
Brexit secretary David Davis also made the pledge, at a Spectator fringe event during the Conservative party conference in Birmingham earlier this month. He said he was “absolutely 100 per cent sure” the government would be able to guarantee the rights of UK citizens in Europe and European citizens here.
And during the referendum campaign Michael Gove and Boris Johnson, while outlining their plans for a tough post-Brexit immigration system, made clear that new rules would not apply to Irish citizens or EU citizens “already lawfully resident in the UK”.
The inconstancy of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and David Davis is, as Boris Johnson so eloquently said just three months ago, “very disappointing”. There is certainly no need to call their duplicity into question.
Back the #WriteToRemain campaign, and ask the Government to guarantee the status of EU citizens living in the United Kingdom, and British citizens living in Europe.
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Edited by Bill Emmott
What an utterly dishonest and loathsome crowd of nasty bigots are Johnson, Gove, Davis, Fox and many other so-called Brexiteers.
I shall never again vote conservative. The biggest bunch of lying back stabbers. Only interested in power. Cameron was a gentleman to good and not devious enough to deal with his obnoxious party . This biggest civil unrest since Charles 1st
Anyone ever tried to gauge what damage these clowns actually do to any chance of negotiating anything at all? The U.K. Are making themselves both the laughing stock of the rest of the world as well as thoroughly disliked!
I feel very sorry for the UK , and all the British people who took seriously the leave campaigners…and helped these clones to win…Kind Regards , an EU citizen
Clearly now is the time to react since this Government is not going to consider the interests of EU citizens, and that includes many family members of British citizens like my wife. . For a start sign the following petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/159488
Disgusting and yet more proof trusting this cabinet is foolish. People are not and should never be bargaining chips or cards on a negotiable situation. It makes govt the equilavant of a hostage taker it’s eight wing terrorist like strategy. These are people and joanna made a good argument but this more proof are leadership is lost in far right extremist pleasing rhetoric and dogma.
As time goes on, I am becoming utterly staggered and ashamed by the behaviour of this so-called government. Using citizens as ”cards” or pawns in a political negotiation and failing to guarantee their right is shameful. What a nasty crowd of people there are in the Conservative ”department”. How about we ”abolish’ you and put you all out of work?
Get real Mr Van Der Mark! We have always been disliked by the chippy of other nations. Laughing stock? So be it. We didnt get it wrong in 1939 did we? Perhaps your life may have been different if we did. Now the nations we helped to freedom seek to punish us for our independence of mind and spirit. So be it. We lost 10s of 1,000s of our people to stand up for what was right and this is how you choose to repay our nation’s sacrifice? So be it. But dont try and patronise us or our beliefs. Thank you.
Mr Hill
I salute your patriotism, but I urge you and those who think like you, to reconsider your position.
In 1939 we decided to stay involved with Europe, not withdraw from it, as is now being proposed. In 1940 there were those in the Cabinet who wanted to come to terms with the enemy, agree not to interfere on the continent, and hope to be left alone with our empire and our ‘anglosphere’. But Curchill knew this was a fantasy and there was no coming to terms with totalitarian nationalist tyrannies. So we became embroiled in a desperate struggle. As Churchill said, ‘Without victory there is no survival’. There was victory and there was survival. As you rightly point out, we helped nations to freedom. But please just consider these two points. First point. In order to make headway we had to hit back at the enemy in any way we could. One of the few ways we could hit back was by plastering enemy cities with bombs, and the people in them by the tens of thousands, owing to the imprecise bomb aiming techniques of those days. Second point. Churchill, again, said that if the devil himself were to aid the allied cause he would put in a good word for him in the House of Commons. Very amusing. But he found it necessary to commit us to a close alliance with history’s worst and most chilling tyranny at least in point of size, namely Stalin’s Soviet Union. And at least in terms of military and civilian casualties, Russia did indeed do the heavy lifting in the defeat of nazism. There is a woolly feeling that somehow Stalin’s regime can’t have been all that bad since he was allied to us and some of our virtues must have reflected back on him in some way or other. But it was all that bad. Anyway, these two factors , the massive civilian bombing and the alliance with an enormous and wicked dictatorship, were necessities if we were to achieve victory. But just because these two things were necessary and helped us to prevail does not mean they should cause us to throw our hats in the air and clap our hands for joy, do they? After the dust had settled from those days of unnecessary conflict, we should have soberly considered whether the system of pure nation states in Europe, of which UK was one, was not something that needed some modification and a commitment to something more civilised and more advanced, to make good the defects of the basic nation-state.
Two score years ago our fathers and mothers did precisely that, and committed us wholeheartedly to what is now the European Union. We in our generation should not allow our government to undo their good work.
Johnson(the Cycling Foon), The Slithy Gove and the Niglukip should climb back through the Looking Glass and go pull carrots for 12 hours a day in East Anglia !
As an ex-pat, I have a fellow-feeling towards those EU citizens lawfully resident in the UK. My opinion of these so-called Brexiteers is unprintable – indeed, there are no words in English to describe my utter contempt for them all. The referendum will go down in history as the most serious self-inflicted wound in British history. Why in the world doesn’t May simply say that leaving the EU at this time is just too damaging and best to postpone any decision for a decade. In the meantime, by all means address those issues most contentious – immigration, lack of accountability, etc. Can only do that from within the EU.
Fat chance – another PM with no balls – literally …
The obnoxious clowns supposedly running this country leave me speechless, they are liars and cheating crooks of the first order.
I am thoroughly ashamed to be english (lower case intentional).
I feel I now know how non Nazi Germans felt in 1930’s Germany.