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Brexit: 325 Tory MPs fail to turn up for House of Commons vote to guarantee EU nationals the right to remain in UK

Labour's Andy Burnham proposed a motion calling for an urgent committment to protect EU nationals in Britain

Thursday 07 July 2016 08:11 BST

A pro-EU demonstration in London on 28 June (Reuters)

The Government has refused to support a motion passed in the House of Commons calling for EU nationals to be guaranteed the right remain in Britain following the vote for Brexit.

A total of 325 Tories failed to turn up for Wednesday's debate, which saw 245 MPs demand protection for European citizens to just two opponents from the Ulster Unionist Party.

Douglas Carswell, Ukip’s only MP, was among those voicing his support for the Labour motion alongside the Scottish National Party, Liberal Democrats Green Party, Plaid Cymru and others.

Boris Johnson led a small contingent of Conservative rebels demanding the “strongest possible reassurance” to be given, following Theresa May’s refusal to publicly rule out deportations.

Theresa May admits future of EU citizens living in the UK is uncertain

The former London Mayor claimed the Leave campaign had promised the status of European citizens already living and working in the UK would be protected but acknowledged people’s uncertainty and fear.

“I think it is absolutely right to issue the strongest possible reassurance to EU nationals in this country, not just for moral or humanitarian reasons, but for very, very sound economic reasons as well,” Mr Johnson said.

“They are welcome, they are necessary; they are a vital part of our society.”

He was among five Tories, including Zac Goldsmith, Philip Hollobone, Richard Fuller and Dr Tania Mathias to support Labour’s motion in Parliament on Wednesday.

Some EU nationals living in the UK have said they fear for their future (Reuters)

It was proposed by shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham, who hailed the vote’s success on Twitter and said the Government would be unable to retreat.

Mr Burnham told the Commons the three million EU nationals living in the UK should not “be used as bargaining chips in negotiations on the UK’s exit” from the union and must be given the right to remain.

The Labour MP hit out at the Home Secretary, who is currently the favourite in the Tory leadership contest, for “muddying the water” after last month’s referendum.

“One could only speculate that she made these comments in a bid to woo the grassroots of the Tory Party in her current situation,” Mr Burnham said.

He suggested backdating the status guarantee to 23 June and called for British citizenship to be offered to EU nationals working in the NHS or public services.

6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you

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1/66 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you

6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you

More expensive foreign holidays

The first practical effect of a vote to Leave is that the pound will be worth less abroad, meaning foreign holidays will cost us more

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6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you

No immediate change in immigration status

The Prime Minister will have to address other immediate concerns. He is likely to reassure nationals of other EU countries living in the UK that their status is unchanged. That is what the Leave campaign has said, so, even after the Brexit negotiations are complete, those who are already in the UK would be allowed to stay

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6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you

Higher inflation

A lower pound means that imports would become more expensive. This is likely to mean the return of inflation – a phenomenon with which many of us are unfamiliar because prices have been stable for so long, rising at no more than about 2 per cent a year. The effect may probably not be particularly noticeable in the first few months. At first price rises would be confined to imported goods – food and clothes being the most obvious – but inflation has a tendency to spread and to gain its own momentum

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6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you

Interest rates might rise

The trouble with inflation is that the Bank of England has a legal obligation to keep it as close to 2 per cent a year as possible. If a fall in the pound threatens to push prices up faster than this, the Bank will raise interest rates. This acts against inflation in three ways. First, it makes the pound more attractive, because deposits in pounds will earn higher interest. Second, it reduces demand by putting up the cost of borrowing, and especially by taking larger mortgage payments out of the economy. Third, it makes it more expensive for businesses to borrow to expand output

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6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you

Did somebody say recession?

Mr Carney, the Treasury and a range of international economists have warned about this. Many Leave voters appear not to have believed them, or to think that they are exaggerating small, long-term effects. But there is no doubt that the Leave vote is a negative shock to the economy. This is because it changes expectations about the economy’s future performance. Even though Britain is not actually be leaving the EU for at least two years, companies and investors will start to move money out of Britain, or to scale back plans for expansion, because they are less confident about what would happen after 2018

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6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you

And we wouldn’t even get our money back

All this will be happening while the Prime Minister, whoever he or she is, is negotiating the terms of our future access to the EU single market. In the meantime, our trade with the EU would be unaffected, except that companies elsewhere in the EU may be less interested in buying from us or selling to us, expecting tariff barriers to go up in two years’ time. Whoever the Chancellor is, he or she may feel the need to bring in a new Budget

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Ms May has faced fierce criticism over her refusal to give firm assurances that EU citizens living in the UK will be allowed to stay, having suggested the issue will play a part in negotiations with Brussels.

Ministers have suggested it would be unwise to guarantee the status of EU nationals in the UK until a similar guarantee is in place for British people living abroad in EU countries.

There have also been suggestions that a guarantee would provoke an influx of European immigration before the split from Brussels is complete.

James Brokenshire, the immigration minister, rejected the accusation that the Government was treating EU citizens as “bargaining chips” but said the Government was unable to support Labour's motion.

“In the approach the Government takes and the agreements we make, we will never treat EU citizens as pawns in some kind of cynical game of negotiation chess,” he told MPs.

“Any decision to pre-empt our future negotiations would risk undermining our ability to secure those arrangements and protect the interests of EU nationals and British nationals alike and to get the best outcomes for both.”

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