Prime Minister Theresa May’s idea to take Britain out of the European Union passed its first legislative obstacle on Wednesday. The development paved the way for her administration to take-off separation talks by the end of March this year.
May’s administration is seeking support for a new law that can give her the right to initiate Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, the legal process for exiting the bloc following the Supreme Court’s verdict that she could not take that decision individually. The bill could finish the legislative process by March 7.
May desires to start exit negotiations with the EU by March 31, starting 2 years of talks that will outline Britain’s financial and political future and check the unity of the EU’s 27 remaining members. Representatives voted by 498 to 114 in favor of letting the bill to headway to the next, more detailed legislative phase.
Formerly, they disallowed an attempt to throw away the bill, proposed by pro-EU Scottish nationalists. The Scottish National Party’s Europe spokesman Stephen Gethins termed the vote as “a devastating act of sabotage on Scotland’s economy”.
A mainstream of voters in Scotland and Northern Ireland in last summer’s referendum supported remaining in the EU, while voters in England and Wales backed Brexit.
The votes came after two days of emotional speeches in parliament that has emphasized the lingering sense of jolt among the generally pro-European political establishment that 52 percent of their constituents chose to leave the EU in the June 23 referendum.
