May seeks go-ahead to trigger Brexit

Britain is poised to take a key step towards leaving the European Union when lawmakers begin debating whether to empower Prime Minister Theresa May to embark on the historic divorce.

MPs will hold their first discussion on legislation giving the government the power to trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, opening two years of negotiations on leaving the bloc.

While the bill is expected to pass the House of Commons, it could be delayed in the upper House of Lords as May’s Conservative Party does not have a majority there.

The government had sought to exclude parliament, insisting it had the power to trigger Article 50 on its own, but the Supreme Court last week ruled it must consult lawmakers.

A majority of both houses of parliament opposed Brexit, but May has urged them to respect the result of the June referendum, when 52% of Britons voted to end the country’s four-decade membership of the EU.

“I hope that when people come to look at the Article 50 bill they will recognise it is a very simple decision: do they support the will of the British people or not?” she said yesterday.

May is under intense pressure to push the bill through quickly, having promised EU leaders that she will trigger Article 50 by the end of March.

At just 143 words, the European Union Notification of Withdrawal Bill has been tightly drafted, making it difficult to amend either to delay the government’s plans or to tie its hands in the talks.

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has promised not to block the bill, but his party – like the wider country – is deeply divided over Brexit and a large minority of his MPs are expected to rebel.

Dozens of May’s Conservative MPs are also opposed to her plan to pull Britain out of the single market when it leaves the EU, fearing the damage to one of the bloc’s biggest economies.

But most have promised to back the government, as long as ministers keep parliament informed on their strategy and the course of the negotiations.