Big step toward EU exit door, Brexit OK’d by House of Commons

LONDON — Britain’s House of Commons gave its final approval yesterday to a bill authorizing the government to start exit talks with the European Union, despite fears by opposition lawmakers that the U.K. is setting out on the rocky path to Brexit with a sketchy road map.

As the votes were being tallied, a few pro-EU legislators whistled Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” the bloc’s anthem.

But the decisive 494-122 result was another big step on Britain’s road to the EU exit door.

The bill now goes to the House of Lords, which has the power to delay — but not to derail — the legislation; it should become law within weeks.

Lawmakers had backed the bill by a 498-114 margin during an earlier vote last week, so yesterday’s result by a similar margin was not a surprise.

It came after three days of debate in which opposition lawmakers tried to pass amendments guaranteeing Parliament a bigger role in the divorce process and setting rules for the government’s negotiations with the 27 other EU nations.

Pro-Brexit Conservative Iain Duncan Smith said that “tonight we have started the process of delivering on ... what the people wanted.” But Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, who opposed the bill, vowed to fight on.

“In a democracy, you respect the result, but you do not wave the white flag and give up,” he said.