Summary
Britain's upper parliamentary house dealt a defeat to Theresa May's government Wednesday, voting for a change to her Brexit plan that says she can only trigger divorce talks if she promises to protect EU citizens' rights.
By a vote of 358 to 256, Parliament's upper chamber inserted a clause protecting EU nationals' status into a bill authorizing the government to begin EU exit talks.
The government has said repeatedly that it plans to guarantee the right of EU citizens to remain in Britain, as long as U.K. nationals living elsewhere in the bloc get the same right.
Conservative peer Nigel Lawson said the amendment was merely "virtue-signaling" and would have no concrete impact. And his Conservative colleague Michael Howard said it could backfire by delaying a deal on residence rights between Britain and the EU.
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