The UK government is set to clear a hurdle on the path to Brexit later Wednesday when lawmakers vote on a bill to trigger negotiations on the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, following two days of debate.
Members of Parliament are expected to approve the EU (Notification on Withdrawal) Bill, sending it on to the next stage in the parliamentary process.
The real battle is expected next week, according to Britain’s Press Association news agency, when the bill returns to the House of Commons for detailed scrutiny in the committee stage. Opposition parties will then try to push through a series of amendments.
Prime Minister Theresa May wants to trigger Article 50 of the EU Treaty — and so start two years of negotiations to leave the 27-nation economic and political grouping — by the end of March.
Her government was forced to bring legislation to Parliament after the Supreme Court ruled it could not trigger Article 50 without the permission of lawmakers.
‘Do we trust the people?’
Opening the debate on bill Tuesday, David Davis, Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, told parliamentarians they could not block the process.
The decision to leave the trade block is “a point of return already passed,” he said. “At the core of this Bill lies a very simple question — do we trust the people or not?”
Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn has ordered Labour MPs not to attempt to delay the process by voting against the government on Article 50.
However, at least 22 of his MPs are expected to defy him and support “a wrecking amendment” filed by the Scottish National Party. The amendment would block the bill’s progress on the grounds that the Government has failed to provide for consultation with devolved administrations and has not assured MPs of a meaningful vote at the end of the negotiation process, PA reported. It is highly unlikely to pass when the bill is put to a vote Wednesday evening.
“We can at least stand up to be counted,” Welsh Labour MP Owen Smith told CNN on Tuesday.
Many Conservative lawmakers are also against Brexit but are unlikely to support the amendment, saving their ammunition for when Brexit negotiations begin, Smith said.
Trade deals
Britain voted in a referendum last June by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the EU.
However, in both the main parliamentary parties — the Conservatives and Labour — opinion is split over the wisdom of Brexit, with only the small Liberal Democrat party and the Scottish National Party united in their stance to stay in.
May — who has come under fire for failing to set out a vision for Brexit — told parliament last week that the government would produce a white paper that would be scrutinized by lawmakers.
She had resisted such a move because she said it would show the UK’s negotiating hand. Not only will the UK need to negotiate the exit from Europe, but also new trade deals with all its trading partners.
The House of Lords, the UK’s upper house will also need to approve the Article 50 legislation before it can become law.
