Conduct of negotiations

Part of European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill – in the House of Commons at 4:30 pm on 8 February 2017.

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Photo of Caroline Lucas Caroline Lucas Co-Leader of the Green Party 4:30, 8 February 2017

I am pleased to follow Suella Fernandes, not least because I would like to disagree with several of the points she made—I am sure she will not find that surprising. She says that she finds the Prime Minister’s attitude to EU nationals “appropriate”. I find it deeply inappropriate, and so do the EU nationals themselves, who simply want certainty about their future in this country. The Prime Minister’s refusal to guarantee that now, when she has the ability to do so, is cruel and, frankly, immoral. We are talking about people’s lives, which are not commodities to be traded in some wider bargain. The Prime Minister could and should guarantee to people who have made their lives here in good faith that of course they can stay. The idea that it is appropriate to do otherwise is out of order.