EU Citizens Bargaining Chip Stance is damaging Tory Party Reputation

On Monday the House of Commons have voted down the House of Lords amendment to the Article 50 Bill  that could have protected the rights of the three million EU citizens in the UK, who came to this country in good faith. A great opportunity was missed to show compassion and decency.

Despite the very compelling reasons to either guarantee the rights outside the bill or to follow the recommendation of the House of Lords and to add the protection of EU citizen rights into law now the Tory party together with the DUP have chosen to not pursue this.

Humanity

Throwing humans on the negotiation table alongside cars from Sunderland and lettuce from Spain is  morally indefensible.  However it is dressed up it dehumanises people. The three million EU citizens are parents, spouses, neighbours and colleagues to British citizens. They have come to live here in good faith and have built their lives in the UK. This has the potential of tearing UK/EU families apart and thus, hurting nobody else but British children and spouses.

Protecting UK Expats

Reciprocity could be an attractive idea if you are happy to use all three million EU citizens in the UK and the 1.2 million British citizens in the EU as negotiation capital.The Government argued that doing so will protect the interests of British expats in Europe. Unfortunately, they did not listen to the very people they claim to protect. All major British Expat organisations across Europe were asking the British government to grant unilateral guarantees for EU citizens now. They know that the goodwill created by the British gesture carries further than confrontation at the negotiation table.

"We also believe that it is damaging to the UK’s reputation for UK citizens living in Europe and EU citizens in the UK to be treated as negotiating currency and that it will have a negative effect on the forthcoming negotiations, including for the position of UK citizens in Europe"

Timing

The cross party Brexit committee has released its report on EU citizens and they unanimously called on the Government to guarantee our rights unilaterally now. This call is backed by all major British Expat organisations.

Any delay may have discriminatory consequences.Banks have already started to change their risk profiling for long term loan applications (e.g. mortgages) and employers becoming reluctant to employ EU citizens due to the unclear immigration status. This will only increase over the next two years of negotiations with no guarantee given now.

No negotiation leverage

The flaw of using people as 'negotiation capital' (a phrase coined by Robert Goodwill) has been laid bare quite clearly by Tory MP Peter Bone on BBC Newsnight on March 1st, 2017. When questioned if rights of EU citizens would be taken away should negotiations on issues, such as Gibraltar, go sour he quite clearly stated that would not be the case. It is nonsensical to put three million people through two years of unnecessary uncertainty if there is no leverage gained.

Nature of the bill

Adding a guarantee of EU citizens rights to the bill would have not changed the nature of the bill. The argument that such guarantee would change the bill’s sole purpose to allow the Prime Minister triggering Article 50 is nonsensical.

Goodwill

The next two years will centre on very hard fought negotiations with the EU. The treatment of their citizens by the UK government is not going unnoticed by the EU27. The Prime Minister’s objectives for Brexit can only be achieved through goodwill on both sides of the table. She has the chance to show this now, as she has stated that she wants to protect the rights of EU citizens in the UK 'as early as possible'. Nobody will prevent her from doing so right now.

Once Theresa May positively set out that she wants to rid the Conservative Party of the ‘nasty party’ image but even the much loathed Nigel Farage calls for the guarantee of EU citizens rights being secured now on LBC following the House of Lords amendment vote. Where does that leave the Tory party’s public image? 

Making people bargaining chips, dehumanising them, will tarnish the party's reputation. The plight of the three million EU citizens might feel irrelevant to the Tory party as they are excluded from the general election but they are family, friends and colleagues. Their treatment will not go unnoticed with the electorate. Their stories will turn many UK voters off the Tory party especially when the flaws of the negotiation capital argument become clearer over the next two years.