UK’s ‘Brexit’ will not go to vote

British prime minister Theresa May will not hold a parliamentary vote before formally triggering Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, the Daily Telegraph reported yesterday, without specifying sources.

Conservative Mrs May will not offer opponents the chance to stall the withdrawal and consulted lawyers, who said she had the power to invoke the exit without a parliamentary vote, the right-wing newspaper said.

Most of the UK’s 650 MPs declared themselves Remainers. Opponents maintained that since the EU referendum result was not legally binding, legislators should review the vote before the process is started.

The UK voted to leave the EU on June 23, but Mrs May said she would not invoke Article 50, the formal two-year process for leaving the bloc, before the end of the year to allow time to prepare an exit strategy.

Senior members of the opposition Labour party suggested that the issue could be subject to a vote by MPs or a second public vote, and a law firm has initiated a legal challenge. Two months ago, 52 per cent of Britons voted to leave the EU, but since then the process and what it could mean has been shrouded in uncertainty because the exit is unprecedented.

Gus O’Donnell, a former head of the civil service said he hoped that by the time Britain left the EU it could be part of a “more loosely aligned” bloc because the process will take “years and years”.

The economic impact of Brexit was unclear because, beyond a more than 10 per cent fall in the value of sterling against other currencies, the signals were mixed.