SO Theresa May has suffered her first Brexit Bill defeat – in the House of Lords. On the one hand it’s good someone has stood up for the human rights and dignity of the three million EU citizens living in Britain. The Lords passed an amendment to the Article 50 Bill guaranteeing the right of EU nationals to stay in the UK irrespective of what other EU nations decide about the fate of British nationals living there.

On the other, it says a lot about the creaky, unfit-for-purpose nature of British democracy that it’s fallen to a bunch of part-time, overpaid, un-elected peers to challenge the Prime Minister and throw a spanner into the works – and then only for a short period of time.

Couldn’t the Labour Party in the Commons have tried to force through a similar amendment? Ah, but Jeremy Corbyn’s troops have downed tools since their leader waved the white flag over the whole Article 50 triggering process. What about Tory MPs with a conscience? Well they must now stand and be counted. Seasoned Westminster watchers assume the Lords’ amendment will be “ping-ponged” straight back to the Lords for a humiliating climb-down after Theresa May uses her Commons majority to kick out their amendment.

They expect the Commons debate will be a mere formality -- but this time, they could just be wrong.

It’s thought a dozen Tory rebel Lords voted against the Government, even though the Home Secretary took the unprecedented step of writing to every peer urging them not to oppose the Government. With a working majority of just 17, a similar-sized upset in the Commons could force a U-turn. Is that likely to happen? Well some Tory MPs are still privately aghast at the fate of the Dubs amendment which guaranteed a place of sanctuary in Britain for child refugees.

Theresa May promised the scheme would go ahead – and it did. But with 350 not 3,500 children. Once bitten, twice shy – many Tories with a liberal streak now understand that unless concessions are nailed to the front of legislation, they will be dumped when its convenient.

So even though Tory peers tried to assure colleagues that Theresa May has every intention of attending to the plight of EU citizens the second Article 50 is triggered, a significant number of her own party aren’t buying it.

As the Labour peer Baroness Smith put it: “The fate of child refugees shows we are right to put this amendment on the face of the Bill – and how can we be ‘tying the Prime Minister’s hands’ if this is something she really intends to do?”

Fine – but do a few ruffled feathers in the rarified atmosphere of the Lords really amount to a hill o’ beans?

Maybe.

We all know EU nationals living here work in manual jobs within the health service and agricultural sector. But a great many occupy powerful and vital roles too.

Twenty-five per cent of teaching staff at Dundee University, for example, come from EU states. They are trying to decide right now whether they need to embark on the long, bureaucratic and expensive business of applying for UK citizenship to keep their jobs (applications cost between £1000-£5000 and generally need legal help to complete). Few seem to believe a deal to let them stay will be anywhere near the top of May’s post-Article 50 to do list. Au contraire. The PM has so few cards in her hand it’s widely thought she will use the fate of three million EU nationals as a negotiating ploy until the very last minute.

That means chaos for hundreds of thousands of popular, well-connected, tax-paying EU families for another two years – and their personal chaos is not going unnoticed by work colleagues, authorities or MPs.

This is particularly because prominent Brits living in the EU have allied themselves to the EU nationals’ cause.

In her desperate letter to peers, Amber Rudd insisted a “one-sided guarantee” by the UK could damage the interests of British people living abroad who could “end up facing two years of uncertainty if any urgency to resolve their status were removed”.

Astonishingly enough though, many amongst the 1.2 million Brits living in Europe completely disagree.

Jane Golding, a British lawyer now living in Germany, helped set up the pressure group Brits in Europe. But she and her organisation actually support the Lords amendment giving EU citizens in Britain the unilateral right to stay, before deals are worked out for British nationals living in the EU. Golding told Radio Four’s World at One yesterday that she didn’t want to be used as a negotiating chip by Theresa May and felt an act of generosity and humanity by the UK Government would “be the right way to start negotiations with other EU countries” because so many sensitive issues still remain to be agreed. One is whether qualifications gained in the UK will continue to be recognised abroad. Currently around 200 British qualifications are accepted across Europe – but if that were to change, tens of thousands of jobs and job applications could be jeopardised.

In short, the ex-pat community understands that creating an environment of goodwill is essential to make life in Europe pleasant and viable for British nationals. But of course with our Theresa, goodwill is always in short supply.

That’s where there could be a massive bonus for an independent Scotland – or even a devolved Scotland that insists on a differentiated deal with Europe.

One Scottish university has already reported that candidates for teaching jobs quoting Scotland’s welcome for migrants and refugees as a tangible reason for heading north. An uncertain number of skilled EU nationals are considering a move north because they are confident of reaching a more welcoming society than the hostile environment south of the Border they once called home. Perhaps a groundswell is taking place, kick-started by the Lords, who’ve proven their lordly ears are nonetheless closer to the ground than their elected colleagues in the Commons. Certainly British nationals abroad are making it crystal clear that Theresa May’s callous indifference to the security of three million EU citizens here is not in their names.