THE Government has suffered a damaging defeat in the Lords over its plan to start negotiations on leaving the EU at the end of this month.

Ignoring stern warnings not to amend the Brexit Bill, peers backed a Labour-led move to guarantee the rights of EU nationals living in the UK by a majority of 102.

Voting was 358 to 256 after a passionate and sometime ill-tempered three-hour committee stage debate on the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill.

The defeat means the bill, which was passed unamended by the Commons, will now have to return there for further consideration by MPs.

It could put at risk Theresa May’s timetable for triggering Article 50 to begin Brexit talks by the end of March.

Shadow Brexit minister Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town warned against EU nationals being used as “bargaining chips” in negotiations to quit the EU. Hayter said the concerns of EU nationals here and British expats living in Europe shouldn’t be “traded against each other”.

Urging ministers to remove the uncertainty, she said: “These people need to know now – not in two years’ time or even 12 months’ time. They simply can’t put their lives on hold.”

Home Secretary Amber Rudd wrote to every peer yesterday urging them not to back the Opposition amendment to the legislation but failed to persuade peers that the bill should pass unamended.

Earlier, five options for the type of European Union an independent Scotland hopes to be a part of were set out yesterday in a major document charting the way ahead for the bloc once the UK leaves. At one end of the spectrum was a “single market only” model, while at the other was a federal-like system taking on more core responsibilities over foreign affairs, defence and combating terrorism.

The Future of Europe white paper was drawn up by the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and was published yesterday just ahead of his speech to the European Parliament in Brussels. It is intended to influence a declaration by the 27 remaining countries at the bloc’s 60th anniversary summit on March 25 in Rome.

During his speech, Juncker told MEPs: “The summit will not simply be a birthday celebration, it should also be the birth moment of the European Union at 27.”

And he continued: “Now is the time to be pioneers so we can carve out the vision and walk hand in hand with the 27 towards the future.”

Presenting the document, Juncker underlined what he said were the main achievements of the European Union: a peace spanning seven decades and a union of 500 million citizens living in freedom in one of the world’s most prosperous economies.

His speech made just one reference to Brexit: “However painful or regrettable Brexit may be, it will not stop the EU as it moves to the future, we need to move forward.”

Responding to Juncker, Alyn Smith, the SNP MEP, tweeted: “Thoughtful, intelligent, sensitive on EU from @JunckerEU. A tragedy Scotland faces being removed against our will.

“Brexit, if it happens, is not going to uninvent the EU. I’m desperately sad that Scotland faces not being part of this conversation.”

The White Paper presents five scenarios for how it could evolve by 2025: carrying on as normal, nothing but the single market, a multi-speed Europe, doing less more efficiently, and doing much more together. Juncker said the options were neither exhaustive or mutually exclusive.

The European Council is expected to consider which model to pursue at its meeting in December this year ahead of the European Parliament elections in June 2019.

1. Carrying on

The EU27 “sticks to its course” but, Juncker notes, the speed of EU decision-making “depends on overcoming differences of views in order to deliver on collective long-term priorities”. Juncker says by 2025 this strategy will deliver only “incremental progress” on jobs, economy and the Euro.

2. Nothing but the single market

The EU gives up on trying to address challenges such as “migration, security or defence”. By 2025 such an arrangement would mean the functioning of the single market becomes the “raison d’etre” of the EU, strengthening the free movement of goods and capital, but weakening it in other areas, like free movement of people.

3. Those who want more, do more or a “multi-speed Europe”

Create one or more “coalitions of the willing” among states committed to a range of shared goals in to specific areas, such as the defence, internal security, taxation or social policy. Other member states, outside those coalitions, “retain the possibility” of doing more over time. By 2025 this could create a more effective EU defence capability with “enhanced military readiness for joint missions abroad”, as well as deepening intelligence co-operation.

4. Doing less more efficiently

The EU decides to narrow down its priority list, and do what it does more efficiently. As a result the EU is able to “act much quicker and more decisively”. Juncker gives the example of the recent VW diesel emission standards and says this version of the EU would have the “powers and tools” to protect EU consumers in a “direct and visible” manner.

5. Doing much more together

The EU 27 “decide to share more power, resources and decision-making across the board”. In this scenario decision-making deepens and speeds up and decision are agreed faster at EU level and are “rapidly enforced”. By 2025 this means that internationally “Europe speaks and acts as one in trade and is represented by one seat in most international fora”, and a European defence union is created in co-operation with Nato, with the EU becoming a global leader on aid and trade.

While the option would lead to the EU as a more effective body on the world stage, Juncker acknowledges it could risk that “alienating parts of society which feel the EU lacks legitimacy or has taken too much power away from national authorities.”