'Blame Merkel!’ Hartley-Brewer lambasts German leader for EU nationals deadlock
JULIA HARTLEY-BREWER let rip at Angela Merkel holding her fully responsible for the deadlock over the right of EU nationals to remain in Britain post-Brexit.
Hartley-Brewer: Merkel is to blame for EU migrant deadlock
The radio host tore into the German Chancellor’s refusal to agree a deal with Theresa May on EU national status in the UK until the triggering of Article 50.
Speaking to Labour’s Brexit spokeswoman Baroness Hayter on talkRADIO about who was to blame for the lingering status of many in the UK, she said it was far from the Prime Minister’s fault.
"It is Angela Merkel and the European Commission and the European Union that is playing with people's lives," Ms Hartley-Brewer said.
“The argument from Theresa May has been that she wants to offer that guarantee and she said very early on in her premiership to Angela Merkel we’d like to offer that guarantee, can you reciprocate that guarantee and then we can just put that aside and not use people and children as pawns in this negotiation and it was Angela Merkel who said no.”
Julia Hartley-Brewer blamed Angela Merkel for EU national issue
It was Angela Merkel who said no
Peers are expected to amend the Government’s Article 50 bill to protect the rights of EU nationals already living in Britain.
But Baroness Hayer defended the EU migrant amendment, stating EU nationals couldn’t wait to find out their status.
“This isn’t the right way to deal with people’s futures and we’ve had a lot of representations from Britons who are living particularly in Spain, Belgium, Italy and France saying ‘look, we really want you to look after us as well but we don’t want the EU nationals in Britain at the moment to be used as a sort of bargaining chip to help us.”
She added the country couldn’t expect European Union nationals "to wait till the end of the process in two and a bit years’ time”.
“They need to know [their future] now,” she said. “They can’t put their lives on hold.
"This is an issue for our Prime Minister because it is a decision she can take.”
Pro-EU peers are confident they can defeat the Government on the issue of protecting the rights of EU citizens in the UK.
A coalition of Labour peers, Liberal Dems, rebel Tories and crossbenchers plan to vote for an amendment to the Brexit bill as early as this afternoon.
It would come as blow for the Government which wants to get the Brexit bill passed unchanged, so that it can trigger Article 50 next month.