United Kingdom government says disappointed by loss of parliamentary vote on Brexit legislation

Despite threats in the elected House of Commons to challenge May, her bill passed by a landslide majority without any changes.

What even is the Brexit Bill?

Ivan Rogers, who resigned in January after telling the government that a deal could take a decade, told Parliament’s European Scrutiny Committee that Brexit will involve negotiations “on a very large scale”.

The Government said the defeat was “disappointing” but made clear they are determined to reverse it in the lower chamber.

The move in the Lords was unusual as peers rarely force a vote when bills are in their committee stage.

How does this relate to people’s rights? “I can’t see them rejecting that at all and it starts off the negotiations in a much better frame of mind and much better tone”, she told Sky News.

A total of 358 peers voted in favour of the cross-party amendment, against 256 who voted with the government.

Rudd said that their status would be the top priority once negotiations were underway but argued that the government could not act unilaterally over the issue because it would risk the status of British people living across the continent. They are going to follow suit.

But while there was some unexpected backing for the amendment, there was also some unlikely backing for the government on the issue.

The Government, however, don’t agree.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd on Tuesday sent a letter asking peers not to vote against the government.

“There are of course issues which need to be resolved, such as the status of European Union nationals, but these should be done separately to the Bill”.

“To continue to use people as bargaining chips in this way is not only shameful but could have a dire impact on the UK’s economy and essential services”, said Baroness Angela Smith of Basildon.

Angela Smith, the opposition Labour Party’s leader in the Lords, said she believed other European countries would follow suit and guarantee United Kingdom citizens’ rights in return.

The amendment will now need to be debated again by the Commons, where the government is expected to strip it from the legislation.

May’s Conservative party is in the minority in the 800-seat House of Lords, and members of the pro-European Liberal Democrats and many independent peers had pledged to support Labour’s amendment.

A government source told the Guardian that the issue of securing the rights of European Union citizens are being taken seriously but the government is determined to pass a “straightforward, simple bill”.