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After more than six hours of debate, the House of Commons voted by 448 to 75 in favor of a motion that commits lawmakers to support her timetable for formally notifying the EU that Britain is leaving. The motion also ties May to setting out her negotiating plan so lawmakers can examine the details before she begins the Brexit process.
The exit talks will be “the most important and complex negotiations in modern times,” Brexit Secretary David Davis told Parliament in London on Wednesday, as he warned that the U.K. might not get what it wants in Brussels. “This is a negotiation; it’s not a policy statement, and therefore where we’re aiming for may not be the exact place we end up.”
Wednesday’s vote is not legally binding on either the government or members of parliament but it is a politically significant moment for the U.K’s complex efforts to withdraw from the EU following June’s referendum. May has been unwilling to give details of her negotiating strategy, saying it would give an advantage to Brussels before the start of talks next year. [...]