Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday gave her Royal Assent to the Brexit trigger bill, authorising Prime Minister Theresa May to invoke Article 50 to begin the country’s exit negotiations from the European Union.
The European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill had been passed by MPs and lords in Parliament earlier this week and the monarch’s signature means May will be able to keep to her declared March-end timetable of informing the EU that Britain has invoked Article 50 of the lisbon Treaty, which relates to leaving the 28-member economic bloc.
“This will be a defining moment for our whole country as we begin to forge a new relationship with Europe but also a new role for ourselves in the world. We will be a strong, self-governing, global Britain with control once again over our borders and our laws,” May had told the House of Commons earlier this week at the passage of the Brexit bill.
She had indicated that after a “number of processes that will take place”, she will return to the Commons before the end of the month to inform Parliament that she has invoked Article 50, after which a two-year negotiation time-frame is triggered for Britain to leave and strike a new deal with Europe as a non-member of the EU.
May is believed to be planning a tour of the UK — covering Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland — in an attempt to forge a united front around Britain’s exit from the EU. The move follows Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement that she would be seeking parliamentary approval for a second independence referendum in Scotland, to be held next year.