British MPs sit until midnight in bid to fast track Brexit bill
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E-mail Xinhua, February 1, 2017
Britain's House of Commons started a marathon session Tuesday in a bid to rush through parliament a bill to trigger the process for leaving the European Union.
Speaker John Bercow announced members of parliament would remain in session until midnight, with a second full day of debate on Wednesday when a vote will take place.
Although the Brexit bill is one of the shortest, just two sentences, every presented to the British parliament, it is one of the most important to ever come forward.
If approved it will enable British Prime Minister Theresa May to trigger article 50, the process for quitting the EU, by the end of March.
David Davis, the secretary of state for exiting the European Union, started the debate with a plea to MPs to respect the will of the British people. Last June they voted by a 52-48 majority to leave, an unexpected outcome that sent shock waves across Europe.
Davis said the bill is straightforward and the issue boils down to a simple question, do MPs trust the will of the people as expressed in June's referendum.
Speaker Bercow said 99 MPs wanted to speak in Tuesday's session, with more wanting to have a say Wednesday.
A number of MPs from the main opposition Labour Party have already said they will oppose triggering article 50, and members of the Scottish SNP party will also oppose it.
An amendment to the government measure was lodged by the SNP in a bid to block triggering article 50. They say this is because the Westminster government has not set out any provision for effective consultation with the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It also says the government has refused to give a guarantee on the position of EU nationals in Britain, and has left unanswered questions about Britain's withdrawal from the European single market. In the referendum the people of Scotland backed remain.
Sir Keir Starmer, Labour's shadow secretary for Brexit, said his party will make amendments to the bill to ensure free access to the single market. He said EU nationals had been in tears because of the uncertainties of their future status in Britain.
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