Theresa May to trigger Article 50 on Wednesday 29th March

[Blackleaf]

Prime Minister Theresa May is to officially notify the European Union next Wednesday that the UK is leaving.

Downing Street said she would write a letter to the EU's 27 other members, adding that it expected negotiations to then begin as quickly as possible.

Article 50: Theresa May to trigger Brexit process next Wednesday

BBC News
20 March 2017

Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union

Prime Minister Theresa May is to officially notify the European Union next Wednesday that the UK is leaving.

Downing Street said she would write a letter to the EU's 27 other members, adding that it expected negotiations to then begin as quickly as possible.

The move comes nine months after people voted 51.9% to 48.1% in a referendum.

Talks on the terms of the departure and future relations are not allowed under the Article 50 process until the UK formally tells the EU it is leaving.

If all goes according to the two year negotiations set out in the official timetable, Brexit should happen in March 2019.

A No 10 spokesman said the UK's Ambassador to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow, informed the European Council, headed by President Donald Tusk, earlier on Monday of the date that Article 50 would be triggered.

Mrs May is expected to make a statement to the House of Commons shortly after invoking Article 50.

Prime Minister Theresa May is to officially notify the European Union next Wednesday that the UK is leaving

Downing Street said that after Article 50 is triggered, it is expected that the remaining 27 EU member states will agree their terms and for there to be an initial response within 48 hours.

A spokesman said the government wants negotiations to start as soon as possible but added that they "fully appreciate it is right that the other 27 EU states have time to agree their position".

Mrs May said last year that she intended to notify the EU of the UK's intention to leave by the end of March. The move was approved by Parliament two weeks ago when peers and MPs passed unamended a bill giving the prime minister the authority to set the process in motion.

EU leaders have said they want to conclude the talks within 18 months to allow the terms of the UK's exit to be ratified by the UK Parliament and the European Parliament, as well as approved by the necessary majority of EU states.

Mrs May has said MPs and peers will have a vote on the deal she negotiates but she has insisted the UK will leave anyway even if Parliament rejects it. The government has said it expects to secure a positive outcome but made clear there is a chance of there being no formal agreement.

Article 50: Theresa May to trigger Brexit process next week - BBC News

 

[White_Unifier]

With Quebec and Scotland always threatening to leave, perhaps the UK and Canada should introduce 'Article 50's' in their own respective Constitutions so as to ensure a peaceful transition too.

 

[Blackleaf]

With Quebec and Scotland always threatening to leave, perhaps the UK and Canada should introduce 'Article 50's' in their own respective Constitutions so as to ensure a peaceful transition too.

A brand new poll out today doesn't make really good reading for the Scottish Nationalists.

Coffee House Steerpike

Jacob Rees-Mogg leads the celebrations at Article 50 party: ‘To the Brexit heroes of Islington!’

Steerpike

Steerpike
21 March 2017
The Spectator

Was it a case of fate or a helpful tip off from No 10 that meant Brexit Central‘s Brexit party fell on the same day Theresa May announced the date she would trigger Article 50? Either way, it made for a joyful atmosphere as the likes of Vote Leave’s Matthew Elliot, Nigel Evans and James Cleverly gathered in the Barley Mow to celebrate the UK’s impending departure from the EU.

Leading the celebrations was arch-Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, who used his speech to rebuff suggestions that Leave supporters lack answers: ‘We know the road — and it’s a good road, it’s a high road. It’s a high road that we built before — and now we are re-tarmacing’:

‘Leaving the European Union is a rebirth for our nation. We have been hearing in the last few days from people who say all we do is throw mud, and have no responses to their clever intellectual mud… arguments. But we have. We’ve got the key essential argument and that is the nation you build on a democratic basis is a strong and prosperous nation. It all comes down to democracy: can your vote change the law?

Today we hear that Parliament is going to be overwhelmed with laws. That we’re going to have to pass through 10, 15 statutes… two years of solid legislation. That just shows how much we have handed over to Brussels in the first place. The more we have to put in shows the greatness of the democratic deficit. But it is from that democracy that we create our economic prosperity.

There are those who say we don’t know where we’re going. Yes we do. We know the route, we know the road — and it’s a good road, it’s a high road. It’s a high road that we built before — and now we are re-tarmacing.’
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The Conservative MP finished with a special thanks to those Leave activists who had dared to campaign in the Remain heartland of Islington:

‘It is you who gave your fellow countrymen that chance by some people campaigning — heroes of Brexit — in Islington. Now that deserves a round of applause. When I was canvassing in Somerset it was a joy, but in Islington!’
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However, given that Islington voted 76,420 votes to 25,180 in favour of remaining in the EU, Mr S suspects there is still some work to do winning over the residents of North London.

https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2017/...ons-article-50-party-brexit-heroes-islington/