Theresa May has vowed to overturn a Lords amendment to guarantee the rights of EU citizens. But many senior Tories, including key members of the cabinet, have previously suggested that the 2.2 million EU nationals living in the the UK should be protected as the amendment outlines.

The following comments by leading Tories, including prominent members of the leave campaign, about the need to protect EU nationals, will be used to put pressure on Tory backbenchers to support the Lords amendment.

Liam Fox

During his failed bid to become Tory leader in July, Fox said he would seek an agreement where EU citizens living in the UK would be granted “full rights to remain”.

He said: “I would like to see rules apply to future movement, not to those who are currently here and I think that removing the element of fear that I’m afraid the remain campaign encouraged during the referendum would be a very positive thing.”

But three months later as international trade secretary, Fox said the uncertain status of EU nationals living in the UK was “one of our main cards” in the Brexit negotiations.

Boris Johnson

In the run-up to the referendum Johnson told the Guardian that EU citizens would be allowed to stay if Britain voted to leave, saying everyone who was already in the UK would have the right to remain.

After the vote, but before being appointed as foreign secretary, Johnson criticised May for calling into doubt the right of EU migrants. He said: “I would like to set on record that countless times the Vote Leave campaign gave exactly this reassurance to everyone from other EU countries living and working here.



“It is very disappointing that this should be called into question. It is absolutely right to issue the strongest possible reassurance to EU nationals in this country, not just for moral or humanitarian reasons but for very sound economic reasons as well.”

Andrea Leadsom

In her failed bid to become Tory leader, Andrea Leadsom insisted that EU nationals in Britain should not be “bargaining chips” in the Brexit process.

Leadsom, now environment secretary, said in July that she was committed to giving EU citizens already living and working in the UK indefinite leave to remain. “I commit today to guaranteeing the rights of EU friends who have already come here to live and work. We must give them certainty, there is no way they will be bargaining chips in our negotiations,” she said.

Other comments by those outside government are also awkward for May as she attempts to overturn the Lords amendment.

Michael Gove

During his leadership bid, leading leave campaigner Michael Gove tweeted:

EU citizens already lawfully resident in the United Kingdom must retain their right of residence - MG #Gove2016 — Michael Gove (@michaelgove) July 3, 2016

Peter Bone

In the referendum campaign, Peter Bone, the Tory MP and co-founder of leave campaign group Grassroots Out, told the PoliticsHome website: “Clearly any EU citizen that is legally here if we come out of the EU would absolutely have the right to remain here. Any other suggestion is just absurd.

“It is a scare story, full stop. It just shows how desperate the government and the remain campaign are.”

Peter Lilley

A letter to the Daily Telegraph in July signed by leading leave campaigners Daniel Hannan MEP, Ukip’s MP Douglas Carswell, and former Tory cabinet minister Lilley urged all politicians to give an unequivocal commitment to protect the status of EU nationals. It said:

We would urge the government, opposition parties and every candidate standing to be the next Conservative party leader – and hence prime minister – to make an unequivocal statement that EU migrants currently living in the UK are welcome here, and that changes would apply only to new migrants. A clear commitment to protect the status of EU migrants was made by the official Vote Leave campaign – and it must be honoured.

Stephen Crabb

The former work and pensions secretary urged Theresa May to guarantee the status of EU citizens. Writing in the Guardian last month he said:

There is a big opportunity for the government to outline an approach to future immigration policy that provides some certainty to business, and which protects our national interests. But it should also serve as a demonstration of our values: openness, tolerance and fairness. A good place to start would be the status of the 3 million EU migrants living in the UK, whose lives will be affected by Brexit. The prime minister has rightly spoken of the need for a quick resolution on this matter, but we can and should go further in providing a firm guarantee of their status ahead of talks.

Sir Eric Pickles

Last July some Conservative MPs attacked the governent’s decision not to promise to guarantee the rights of EU citizens, including former communities secretary Pickles, and the chairs of two influential committees, Sarah Wollaston and Andrew Tyrie.

Speaking in the Commons, Pickles said: “There is an urgency in terms of giving a clear message on this. EU citizens are among our top surgeons, top consultants, top anaesthetists, top engineers, top architects. These are people who can work anywhere in the world. We need to make very clear that we want them here and it is part of our economy.”

Sarah Wollaston

Wollaston, the chair of the health select committee, told the Commons that “55,000 members of our NHS workforce qualified elsewhere in the EU and 80,000 members of our equally valued care sector. They need security not just now but in the long term. Would the minister take back the clearest possible message from this house that we need long-term security now?”

Andrew Tyrie

The chair of the Treasury select committee said: “Protecting their rights is the only ethical position that can be taken and what’s more, the longer the uncertainty about this question persists the greater the risk of the economic downturn and economic consequences.”