Parliament on Monday passed legislation allowing the government to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, with the House of Commons overturning amendments from the unelected House of Lords that sought to restrict May’s room for maneuver. She plans to announce the formal start of Brexit in the final week of March, according to two officials familiar with her plans.
The victory for May in Parliament, where she has a slim majority, allows her to negotiate Brexit with a free hand and consolidates her hold on power in the ruling Conservative Party. She now faces the simultaneous challenge of pulling Britain out of the EU on good terms while navigating a second constitutional upheaval: Scotland’s renewed bid for independence.
Forced by a Supreme Court ruling in January to consult lawmakers, May now has the power she once assumed she had to begin with: to negotiate Brexit at a time of her choosing.
Bill Intact
Lawmakers rejected two revisions by unelected peers that would have guaranteed rights for EU citizens living in the U.K. and given Parliament a final binding say on what May negotiates with the EU. The government argued against the changes, saying it wanted to preserve May’s flexibility in the talks. While some Tories had signaled they might vote against the government, several would-be rebels fell into line or abstained.
“Parliament has today backed the Government in its determination to get on with the job of leaving the EU and negotiating a positive new partnership with its remaining member states,” Brexit Secretary David Davis said in a statement after the vote. “We are now on the threshold of the most important negotiation for our country in a generation.” [...]
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Related speech: PM Commons statement on European Council
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