LONDON (AP) – Britain’s top minister for leaving the European Union said Sunday that lawmakers should let Prime Minister Theresa May “get on with the job” of quitting the bloc, and the main opposition Brexit spokesman said he expects the divorce papers to be filed this week.
Brexit Secretary David Davis said lawmakers should pass a bill authorizing exit talks on Monday without amendments so the government can enter EU negotiations “with no strings attached.”
“However they voted in the referendum, the majority of people now want the prime minister to be able to get on with the job,” Davis said in a statement.
Prime Minister Theresa May has said for months that she would invoke Article 50 of the EU’s key treaty, the trigger for two years of exit negotiations, by March 31.
But she can’t do it until Parliament approves a bill authorizing the government to start the divorce process. The House of Commons and House of Lords are currently battling over the bill’s contents, with the Lords wanting it to include a provision that would give Parliament a vote on the final deal between Britain and the 27-nation bloc.