UK clears first hurdle in Brexit process

The British government looks set to comfortably meet its plans of triggering Brexit negotiations by next month-end, after winning a clear majority in a vote for the Bill in the House of Commons as it passes through Parliament, on Wednesday.

MPs voted by 498 to 114 to support the legislation: the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill, which gives the government the parliamentary approval necessary to trigger Article 50, which gives EU member-states a two-year period to withdraw. The government was forced to bring the legislation before Parliament following a Supreme Court verdict last month, which held that the executive’s prerogative was not sufficient, and that only Parliament authorise it to trigger Article 50.

The result of the vote — late on Wednesday evening — while not surprising, is significant. It means that while MPs of different parties may attempt to bring amendments to the Bill at later stages, the government is likely to be able to keep to its Brexit timetable, a timetable it has stuck to steadfastly over the past few months, despite setbacks.

With Labour and the Conservative’s backing the legislation, it fell to other parties and Labour and Conservative rebels to oppose the Bill. While many Conservatives had been critical of the government’s approach in the run up to the legislation, opposition within the party melted away leaving only Ken Clarke MP, a former Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer, to oppose the Bill at its second reading.

“It is with a heavy heart, and against my long-held belief that the interests of this country are better served by or being a member of the European Union, that I shall support the Bill,” said the Conservative’s Anna Soubry, a long-standing critic of the government’s approach and plans to leave the single market. Former Chancellor George Osborne, warned of a “constitutional crisis” if the House did not past the legislation.

However, Owen Smith, who stood against Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn in the party’s leadership race last year, was one of 47 Labour MPs who voted against the legislation, and set out why he voted against the legislation: “I do not believe that the Brexit course we are set on will make Britain a more prosperous, fairer, more equal and more tolerant country. To the contrary, it will make our politics meaner and our country poorer,” he said during the two-day debate.

Labour’s position — which has been to support the legislation but push for reforms to ensure single market access, and protections for workers, at later stages of the Bill, drew has drawn criticism from across the parties. “They are not an opposition, they are cheerleaders,” tweeted Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, following the vote. The vote on Wednesday is, of course, not the end of the road: the legislation will now pass to the committee stage where amendments will be considered and then voted on.

The Bill will also have to make its way through the House of Lords, where it is expected to face considerable opposition. Still, the development is a victory for the government and leave campaigners, eager to instill certainty into the Brexit process and to ease a jittery market, and global audience.