Brexit: UK Nationals

Viscount Waverley Excerpts

Wednesday 9th January 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

First, as my noble friend Lord Callanan said in answer to a previous question, the important thing is for Parliament to agree the withdrawal agreement. The agreement ensures that the very rights that the noble Baroness talks about will be guaranteed. I assure noble Lords that the United Kingdom has been clear that, in the case of a no-deal scenario, EU citizens legally resident in the UK by exit day will be able to stay—they will be able to continue with the same access to benefits and services. It is also important that, in that scenario, EU states stand up and ensure that those guarantees are made available to UK residents. I agree with the noble Baroness: our commitment has meant that we have reached agreement with the EFTA countries to ensure that those mutual and reciprocal rights can be guaranteed.

[Viscount Waverley (CB)]

My Lords, I declare that I live in Portugal, and draw attention to the good works of HMA Sainty in Lisbon and commend the French and German Governments on allaying the concerns of the British communities in their countries. Will the Minister encourage all UK ambassadors to call on host Governments and so be able to brief in a more exacting way and allay the concerns of British communities in the 27?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

I thank the noble Viscount for his remarks about Portugal and certainly I will relay them to the embassy and to the ambassador. But let me assure the noble Viscount and your Lordships’ House that not just our ambassadors but our Ministers are working on this. I know that when my noble friend Lord Callanan has been engaging on the European circuit, he has been at various outreach events across Europe on this very basis—to inform British citizens who are living in the EU about their rights and what they will be entitled to.

Equally, we are also working very closely with posts here—ambassadors from the EU in the UK. For example, the Foreign Office, the Home Office and DExEU have organised a series of events in cities around the UK to reach out to those people from the Polish diaspora who are residing in the UK to ensure they understand their rights.