Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties on (a) the rights of British nationals resident in France and (b) residency rights of British nationals living in the EU following the UK's departure from the EU.

The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties was concluded at Vienna on 23 May 1969. The UK ratified the Convention on 25 June 1971 and remains a Party to the Convention today. The Convention is broad in scope and codifies the rules relating to international laws on treaties between states. The Convention does not provide for the rights, related to residence or otherwise, of British nationals living in the EU.

The Withdrawal Agreement established the terms of the UK's withdrawal from the EU, in accordance with Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. The Withdrawal Agreement entered into force on 31 January 2020 and protects citizens' rights. It means over five million EU citizens in the UK and over one million UK nationals in the EU can continue to live, work, study and access benefits and services, such as healthcare, broadly as they did before the UK left the EU.