Lords back EU nationals’ rights, delays Brexit bill

The House of Lords voted Wednesday to amend and thereby delay a bill empowering Prime Minister Theresa May to begin Brexit negotiations, demanding guarantees for EU nationals living in Britain.

In a major defeat for the government, peers voted by 358 to 256 for an amendment requiring ministers to protect the rights of more than three million European citizens after Britain leaves the bloc.

The change means the bill must return to the lower House of Commons for deliberation, delaying final approval just weeks ahead of May’s deadline for starting Brexit negotiations by the end of this month.

Before the vote, May said her timetable for triggering Article 50 of the European Union’s Lisbon treaty, which starts a two-year negotiating period, would not change.

“It is, indeed, my plan to trigger by the end of March,” she told MPs.

A Brexit ministry spokesman said it was “disappointed” at the Lords vote, which comes after MPs overwhelmingly approved the bill last month. Lawmakers in the lower house defeated all amendments to the bill, including one on the rights of EU nationals.

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn welcomed Wednesday’s vote as “great news” on Twitter, suggesting he may support the amendment when it returns to the lower house.

A spokeswoman for May’s office told AFP the government would seek to reverse the change when it moves back to the Commons, where May’s Conservatives have a majority

If they succeed, the original bill would go back to the Lords in what is known as parliamentary ping-pong.

The delay may only end up being a few days, but the defeat signals the domestic opposition that May could face during the next two years of complex EU negotiations.

‘Lives on hold’