The House of Lords has voted to give EU citizens living in the UK guaranteed rights to stay under Brexit - representing the first Government defeat on its legislation to leave the European Union.
With the future of three million EU nationals still uncertain, a cross-party coalition of peers voted by 358 to 256 to defeat the Government by backing a Labour amendment to the Brexit Bill going through the House of Lords.
The amendment grants unilateral rights to both citizens of the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA) once the UK has quit the 27-nation bloc in 2019. Huffington Post.
This is not unreasonable in itself, of course. It would inevitably have occurred, in any case. The problem is that this was a bargaining chip that the government could have used during negotiations which has now been removed and has consequently undermined that process. The sheer folly of the liberal left is boundless.
