MPs BACK BREXIT TIMETABLE

UK set to activate article 50 early in 2017

BRITAIN’S MPs have voted to back PM Theresa May’s plan to start formal talks on Brexit by the end of March next year.

The move came from a compromise deal on Wednesday between Labour and the Conservatives.

MPs backed a Labour motion saying the UK government should publish a plan for Brexit.

The motion also stated that it was Parliament’s responsibility to properly scrutinise the government over Brexit.

However, this followed another vote over the government's amendment to the motion, which added the proviso that its timetable for triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, getting formal talks with the EU under way, should be respected.

Leave supporter Iain Duncan Smith hailed the deal and said for the first time the majority of MPs had voted to leave the EU.

Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer said the government had refused ‘on every occasion’ to give details of its plans, saying information about its negotiating stance was important because it sets the scene for Brexit.

He said there must not be a situation where the government seeks a vote in a vacuum, or produces a late, vague plan.

Brexit secretary David Davis stated: “The simple fact is that the mandate was to leave the European Union - full stop.”

He added: "This is a negotiation, it’s not a policy statement. And, therefore, where you are aiming for may not be the exact place you end up.”

Technically MPs have only backed the government’s plan to start the process of leaving by the end of March.

Read about the government’s Brexit Supreme Court appeal on p16.