My cross-party letter with 47 Peers in today's Financial Times, on why the Government must guarantee EU citizens' residence rights:
On 27 February the House of Lords will debate the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill. This provides an opportunity to guarantee the residence rights of the 3 million EU nationals who were lawfully resident in the United Kingdom at the time of the referendum. It is unthinkable that these individuals would be deported, or families divided, as a result of the vote.
Having taken evidence, Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) concluded that providing them with a unilateral guarantee was both morally and legally the right thing to do. These people need certainty. They work here and are part of our community. They are critical to every part of our private and public sector, including the NHS, our universities, agriculture, creative industries and finance.
If the Government tried to negotiate over their residence rights, many would be able to go to our courts and seek to establish their rights to remain under the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to family life). If even 10 per cent did that, there would be 300,000 cases. There is no way that our court system could cope with such a challenge.
We call on the Government to end the uncertainty and accept the new clause on the residence rights of EU nationals, proposed by members of the JCHR, cross bench Peers, and others, on a cross party basis. Clearly, this will not be Parliament's final word on the matter and further issues will require resolution (for example, health insurance and rights of residence for those who arrived following the referendum).This does not prevent Parliament providing reassurance by preserving existing rights under EU law. This is the right thing to do and would ensure that negotiations with the remaining 27 EU Member States were commenced in good faith and on a positive note. It would be entirely wrong for the UK Government to seek to use these individuals as a bargaining chip.
Rt Hon Harriet Harman MP QC (Chair, Joint Committee on Human Rights)
Rt Hon Lord Woolf CH
The Baroness Hamwee
The Baroness Prosser OBE
Rt Hon Baroness Royall of Blaisdon
The Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws QC
Rt Hon the Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon GCMG KBE CH
Rt Hon the Lord Beith
Rt Hon Baroness Blackstone
Rt Hon. the Lord Bruce of Bennachie
Rt Hon. the Baroness Featherstone
Rt Hon. the Lord Foster of Bath
Rt Hon. the Baroness Kramer
Rt Hon. the Baroness Northover
Rt Hon. the Lord Stunell OBE
Rt Hon. the Lord Wallace of Saltaire
The Lord Alliance CBE
The Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury
The Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted
The Baroness Doocey OBE
The Baroness Falkner of Margravine
The Lord Fox
The Lord Goddard of Stockport
The Lord Greaves
The Baroness Harris of Richmond DL
The Baroness Jolly
The Lord Jones of Cheltenham
The Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
The Lord Lee of Trafford DL
The Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC
The Lord Liddle
The Baroness Maddock
The Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames QC
The Lord Oates
The Baroness Pinnock
The Lord Razzall CBE
The Lord Rennard MBE
The Baroness Scott of Needham Market
The Baroness Sheehan
The Lord Shipley OBE
The Lord Smith of Clifton
The Lord Strasburger
The Lord Taverne QC
The Lord Teverson
The Baroness Thornton
The Lord Tope CBE
The Baroness WALMSLEY