BREXIT: UK To Trigger Article 50 Next Week

[caption id="attachment_17792" align="alignnone" width="620"]Theresa May [/caption]

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Theresa May will on Wednesday, March 29, 2017, trigger Article 50 to officially begin the two-year Brexit negotiations between the UK and the European Union.

The UK formally notified the office of European Council President Donald Tusk of the UK’s intention to invoke Article 50 next Wednesday.

The move will kick off the timetable for formal talks on Britain’s exit, with the 27 remaining EU member states set to outline their negotiating position later next week.

Advertisement

Mrs. May is expected to make a statement to the House of Commons on Wednesday shortly after invoking Article 50, setting out her aims.

This comes nine months after a referendum in which the UK voted to leave by a margin of 51.9% to 48.1%.

“Last June, the people of the UK made the historic decision to leave the EU. Next Wednesday, the government will deliver on that decision and formally start the process by triggering Article 50,” Brexit secretary David Davis said in a statement Monday.

“We are on the threshold of the most important negotiation for this country for a generation.

Advertisement

“The government is clear in its aims: a deal that works for every nation and region of the UK and indeed for all of Europe — a new, positive partnership between the UK and our friends and allies in the European Union.”

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman confirmed Mrs May will inform the EU of Britain’s exit in writing to Mr Tusk before making a statement to MPs next week.

In response, Mr. Tusk revealed he will present the EU’s draft negotiating guidelines to the remaining EU 27 member states within 48 hours of receiving the Article 50 notification.

Mrs. May will this week tour Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland before formally triggering Brexit.

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

Leave a comment

Advertisement