Government relents on rights of EU citizens after MP quits

Alberto Costa forced to resign as PPS despite government later backing his amendment

Lisa O'Carroll and Heather Stewart
Wed 27 Feb 2019 17.08 GMT

The government has caved in to pressure over the fate of EU citizens in the event of a no-deal Brexit and agreed to go back to Brussels to seek a deal to ringfence their rights.

Its decision follows a morning of chaos during whichthe Conservative MP who tabled the amendment proposing the move was forced to quit his government post, and the home secretary said he saw “nothing wrong” with the plan even though Theresa May had dismissed it a day earlier.

Just hours after Alberto Costa resigned, the Cabinet Office minister David Lidington told MPs the government supported him and would take his plan up with the EU. “In view of the fact our political objectives are the same, the government will accept the amendment today and take it up with the commission,” he said.

The amendment calls on May to seek “at the earliest opportunity a joint UK-EU commitment to adopt” the part of the withdrawal agreement securing the rights of EU citizens in the UK and British nationals settled in the EU, whatever the outcome of Brexit negotiations.

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