UK's Lords slam government's Brexit bill over child migrants

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UK's Lords slam government's Brexit bill over child migrants

2020-01-22 01:14 Last Updated At：01:20

Britain’s Parliament has Prime Minister Boris Johnson to rethink part of his key Brexit bill and restore a promise to reunite child refugees with family members in the U.K.

Parliament’s upper chamber, the House of Lords, voted 300-220 on Tuesday to ensure that post-Brexit Britain will continue letting unaccompanied migrant children elsewhere in Europe join relatives living in the U.K.

The promise was made in 2018 by former Prime Minister Theresa May but removed from the Brexit legislation after Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives won a big parliamentary majority in an election last month.

Alf Dubs, a Labour Party member of the Lords who came from Nazi-occupied Europe to Britain as a child refugee, said the government was sending a “very negative” signal.

He implored it not to use migrant children as "bargaining chips" in the negotiations on future relations between the European Union and the U.K.

“If the government wants to disprove the accusation that it is mean and nasty, then surely the thing to do is to accept the amendment,” Dubs said.

The prime minister's office said the government would not accept any changes the House of Lords makes to the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, which sets out the terms of Britain’s departure from the 28-nation bloc at the end of the month.

The government says it intends to continue resettling child migrants in Britain after the country leaves the EU but argues that the issue does not belong in the withdrawal bill,

The vote marked the bill's fourth defeat in the House of Lords. The measure must be passed by both houses of Parliament before Jan. 31 if the U.K. is to leave the EU on schedule. The chamber's members, known as peers, voted Monday for amendments to bolster the rights of EU citizens in Britain and to protect the powers of U.K. courts.

The defeats won’t stop the bill becoming law because the House of Commons has already approved the legislation, and the elected lower chamber can overturn decisions by the non-elected Lords. But it means the bill must return to the Commons later this week rather than automatically becoming law once it's passed by the Lords.

The EU parliament also must approve the Brexit divorce deal with Britain before Jan. 31. A vote by the European Parliament is expected next week.

The U.K. voted narrowly to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum, but after years of negotiations lawmakers repeatedly defeated attempts by both Johnson and predecessor May to secure backing for their Brexit plans.

That changed when Johnson’s Conservatives won the Dec. 12 election, giving the government the ability to override the objections of opposition parties.

Despite Johnson’s repeated promise to “get Brexit done” on Jan. 31, the departure will only kick off the first stage of the country's EU exit. Britain and the EU must then head into negotiations on future ties, racing to strike the terms of their new relationship in trade, security and a host of other areas by the end of 2020.

Follow AP’s full coverage of Brexit and British politics at https://www.apnews.com/Brexit

EU, Britain and Spain say significant progress made in talks on post-Brexit status of Gibraltar

2024-04-12 23:26 Last Updated At：23:31

MADRID (AP) — British and Spanish foreign ministers said a new round of talks held Friday over the status of the disputed territory of Gibraltar following Britain’s exit from the European Union were productive and significant progress was made.

The meeting was between Spain's José Manuel Albares, Britain’s David Cameron and European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic in Brussels. Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo also attended. It was the first time representatives from the four areas had come together for talks on the issue.

In a statement after the meeting, the parties said "discussions took place in a constructive atmosphere, with significant progress achieved.

“General political lines have been agreed (on), including on airport, goods and mobility. Negotiations will continue over the coming weeks to conclude the EU-UK Agreement,” it added.

All sides are eager to clinch a deal before European elections in June.

Britain left the European Union in 2020 with the relationship between Gibraltar and the bloc unresolved. Talks on a deal to ensure people and goods can keep flowing over the Gibraltar-Spain border have made halting progress in the 19 rounds of negotiations so far, but both Spanish and U.K. officials have recently expressed optimism about a deal.

In Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum, 96% of voters in Gibraltar supported remaining in the EU. The tiny territory on Spain's southern tip depends greatly on access to the EU market for its 34,000 inhabitants.

Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713, but Spain has maintained its sovereignty claim ever since. Relations concerning the Rock, as it is popularly referred to in English, have had their ups and downs over the centuries.

A major sticking point has been who controls Gibraltar’s airport, which under the proposed free-movement deal would be an external border of the EU. The U.K. and Gibraltar have resisted Spain’s insistence that Spanish border officials be based at the airport, which is also home to a Royal Air Force base.

The British Foreign Office said Thursday that while it did not expect a final agreement Friday, "getting senior political figures from the UK, European Commission, Spain and Gibraltar in one room is significant.”

Associated Press writer Jill Lawless reported from London.