British MPs resumed Tuesday the review of a draft government law on UK’s withdrawal from the EU, before a vote on Wednesday and the transmission late January of the text to the House of Lords. The law should allow the country to continue to function normally when it cuts the cord with the EU, on the expected date March 29, 2019. Concretely, it puts an end to the supremacy of European law over British national law and clarifies the transposition of EU regulations.
The review of the text has already given rise to fierce debates in the House of Commons, illustrating the persistent divisions, including within the conservative majority, on the directions to be given to the continued Brexit negotiations.
In December, Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May suffered a stinging defeat when eleven of her party members voted with the Labor opposition for Parliament to be given a final vote on the terms of the divorce from the EU.
In order to avoid a new setback, May had to accept an amendment from three Tory MPs authorizing a possible postponement of the Brexit date, in case the discussions with the 27 EU members were to continue beyond March 29, 2019.
If the vote scheduled for Wednesday should theoretically pass without too much trouble for Theresa May, the continuation of the review in upper house of the Parliament, which is mostly pro-EU, could still result in surprise amendments.
The Brussels Times
