- CREDIT: JONATHAN BRADY
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With a majority of 384, MPs have voted to allow Theresa May to get Brexit negotiations under way.
Although MPs backed the government's European Union Bill by 498 votes to a dire 114, including support from 47 Labour MPs, the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrat leadership opposed the bill.
Theresa May has set a deadline of the 31st March for calling upon Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which will start official talks with the EU.
- Credit: Parliament
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The Prime Minister previously announced that she will publish detailed Brexit plans after the vote. It is expected that the white paper will explain the framework outlined by May in a speech in January.
The bill was published last week, after the Supreme Court ruled that Ms May did not have sufficient powers to trigger Brexit, and MPs and peers therefore must have a say before Article 50 could be invoked.
Brett Secretary David Davis commented on the two day debate, stating that voting against it would be to "ignore" the voices of many British citizens in last June's referendum, where a majority of 51.9% voted in favour of Brexit.
Many Labour MPs were put in a "difficult" situation, as many wanted to stay in the EU, but acknowledged that it would be undemocratic to ignore the public's referendum result.
It is now quite clear that the journey to leaving the EU has reached past the point of no return.
Originally posted to www.icov.co.uk on February 1st 2017
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