[Breaking news update, published at 8:28 p.m. GMT]
Legislation to allow UK Prime Minister Theresa May to formally trigger the Brexit process has passed the lower house of the British Parliament. The vote was 494 MPs in favor, and 122 against. Now that the legislation has been approved by the House of Commons, it will be put before the House of Lords for a final decision.
[Previous story, published at 8:11 p.m. GMT]
Britain’s lower house of parliament is expected to hold a final vote Wednesday on whether Prime Minister Theresa May’s government can officially begin the Brexit process.
Members of the House of Commons have already voted overwhelmingly in favor of the bill to kick off Britain’s divorce from the European Union in its initial readings, and a seven-hour debate on amendments will precede the final vote, scheduled for 8 pm (3 pm ET).
The leader of the main opposition Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, has mandated his MPs to support the bill. But a sticking point remains over how much say MPs will have on a final Brexit deal with the EU.
May’s government had promised MPs a “meaningful vote” on a final deal, but on Tuesday a Downing Street spokesperson said the vote would be a “choice between accepting a deal or leaving the EU with no deal.”
Of particular concern to MPs is Britain’s future trade relationship with the EU once the country leaves the union’s single market, essentially a free-trade zone.
Labour MP Liz Kendall referred to the “take-or-leave-it vote” as “a con” during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
May responded that her government would “bring forward a motion, that motion will be on the final agreement, it will be for approval by both houses of parliament, it will be before the final agreement is concluded.”
She added that MPs would get their vote before the European parliament began its own Brexit debates.
May has vowed to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty — the legal mechanism to begin the EU withdrawal — by the end of March.
An attempt by her government to bypass parliament to trigger the article was thwarted by a legal challenge that went all the way up to the Supreme Court.
If the bill is passed it will go to parliament’s upper chamber, the House of Lords, which will either approve the bill after several readings and debates, and pass it on for royal assent to be signed into law. Or the Lords could make amendments and send the bill back to the house for further debate and votes.
