G20 Summit

Lord Elystan-Morgan Excerpts

Wednesday 7th September 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

My noble friend is right: there was no reference to Hinkley in the Statement but, as the Prime Minister has said, there is more to our relationship with China than Hinkley. She spoke to President Xi about the fact that we are reviewing the Hinkley deal because it is a complex, large-scale infrastructure project. It is only right that we look at the detail and consider all its component parts. The Prime Minister assured President Xi that a decision will be made in a timely manner.

[Lord Elystan-Morgan (CB)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness will appreciate that the Prime Minister said nothing at all at the summit on the position of EU nationals who have settled in the United Kingdom. Many people from all shades of politics are deeply disappointed about that situation because they consider that the United Kingdom Government have given those people a clear undertaking that they could remain in perpetuity if they so wished. Does the Leader of the House, who is very greatly respected, agree that the one thing that you cannot use as a bargaining chip, however great the temptation, is your word of honour?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

I assure the noble Lord that the Prime Minister has been clear that she is determined to protect the status of EU nationals already living here, and the only circumstances in which that would not be possible are if British citizens’ rights in European member states are not protected in return—and that is something that I find very hard to imagine.