Machinery for Brexit to start churning before end of March

London

THE phoney political war is over and the two-year Brexit negotiations will be allowed to start before the end of this month.

After to-ing and fro-ing between the elected members of the House of Commons and unelected members of the House of Lords, the Brexit Bill has been passed and Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty of the European Union (EU) will be triggered, setting off the process of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the EU. Proposed amendments to the Bill were defeated, as parliamentarians who favoured "remain" decided that, following nine months of haggling after the referendum, that the democratic will of the people could not be quashed.

David Davis, the Cabinet minister overseeing Brexit, said: "Parliament has today backed the government in its determination to get on with the job of leaving the EU and negotiating a positive new partnership with its remaining member states. We are now on the threshold of the most important negotiation …