European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill — New Clause 5 — Protecting EU Citizens’ Rights — Automatic Right of Permanent UK Residence for Certain EU Citizens — 7 Jan 2020 at 20:15
The majority of MPs voted against automatically, without requiring an application, assigning a right of permanent residence in the United Kingdom to European Union citizens who have resided in the United Kingdom for at least five years.
MPs were considering the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill.[1]
The proposed new clause rejected in this vote was titled: Protecting EU Citizens’ Rights and stated:
- (1) This section applies to—
- (a) European Union citizens having the right to reside permanently in the UK according to Article 15 (“Rights of permanent residence”) of the Withdrawal Agreement;
- (b) persons to whom the provisions in (a) do not apply but who are eligible for indefinite leave to enter or remain, or limited leave to enter or remain by virtue of residence scheme immigration rules (see section 17).
- (2) A person to which this section applies has the rights and obligations provided in Article 12 and Title II Part II ‘Citizens’ Rights’ of the Withdrawal Agreement.
- (3) The Secretary of State must by regulations make provision—
- (a) implementing article 18(4) of the withdrawal agreement (right of eligible citizens to receive a residence document), including making provision for a physical document providing proof of residence;
- (b) implementing article 17(4) of the EEA EFTA separation agreement (right of eligible citizens to receive a residence document) including making provision for a physical document providing proof of residence;
- (c) implementing article 16(4) of the Swiss citizens’ rights agreement (right of eligible citizens to receive a residence document) including making provision for a physical document providing proof of residence.
- (4) No provision of this or any other enactment, or adopted under this or any other enactment, may be used to require European Union nationals and their family members, or nationals of Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland and their family members, who reside in the United Kingdom immediately prior to the end of the implementation period, to apply for a new residence status under Article 18(1) of the Withdrawal Agreement, or to introduce a deadline for applications under residence scheme immigration rules or relevant entry clearance rules.
- (5) Residence scheme immigration rules and relevant entry clearance immigration rules may not be amended to provide that any person who benefited or is eligible to benefit under those rules on the day on which this Act is passed benefits any less than he benefited or was eligible to benefit on the day on which this Act is passed.”
The rejected new clause was accompanies by the following explanatory statement from its proposer:
- This new clause provides for all EU citizens who are resident in the UK before exit day to have the right of permanent residence, whether or not they have been exercising treaty rights, and makes sure that every person who is entitled to settled status has the same rights.
- [1] Parliament's webpage on the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill. Parliament.uk website
Party Summary
Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.
What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.
What are Boths? An MP can vote both aye and no in the same division. The boths page explains this.
What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.
Party | Majority (No) | Minority (Aye) | Both | Turnout |
Alliance | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100.0% |
Con | 340 (+2 tell) | 0 | 0 | 93.7% |
DUP | 2 | 0 | 0 | 25.0% |
Green | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100.0% |
Lab | 0 | 187 (+2 tell) | 0 | 93.6% |
LDem | 0 | 11 | 0 | 100.0% |
PC | 0 | 4 | 0 | 100.0% |
SDLP | 0 | 2 | 0 | 100.0% |
SNP | 0 | 45 | 0 | 95.7% |
Total: | 342 | 251 | 0 | 93.1% |
Rebel Voters - sorted by party
MPs for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party. You can see all votes in this division, or every eligible MP who could have voted in this division
Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote
Name | Constituency | Party | Vote | |
no rebellions |