EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legislation

Hilary Benn Excerpts

Tuesday 24th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. There are two distinct issues at play here. We are absolutely committed to the Belfast agreement and to peace and stability in Northern Ireland. At the same time, it is unacceptable for a customs border to be drawn along the Irish sea, as that would be a direct threat to the territorial integrity of this country. I am sure that that is not what our European partners intend—there may be similar pressures in countries within the EU—but we are absolutely clear about our position on this.

[Hilary Benn (Leeds Central) (Lab)]

Paragraph 24 states that

“all EU citizens lawfully residing in the UK”

by 31 December will be able to stay. Can the Secretary of State give the House and those 3.5 million European citizens an assurance that that commitment from the Government will still hold in the event of us leaving without a deal? Yes or no?

[Dominic Raab]

I apologise for the disruption that this is causing to the right hon. Gentleman’s evidence session, which I look forward to joining later.

We are very clear that, in the event of no deal, there would be no wholesale removal of rights of EU nationals in this country. We are absolutely committed to providing the reassurance and security that they need. That is the point of agreeing these aspects of the withdrawal agreement up front and publishing this White Paper—so that EU nationals here and UK expats abroad can see precisely not only the substance of their rights, but how they will properly be protected.