Brexit: Article 50 could be triggered within days

Sources have told the Guardian that peers will now accept the supremacy of the Commons, allowing Theresa May’s Brexit bill to clear all hurdles on Monday night, preparing it for royal assent.

May herself has simply reiterated her long-running statement that she will invoke Article 50 “by the end of March”, with Downing Street giving nothing else away. In the statement, May will be reporting back on this week’s summit of European Union leaders in Brussels. She may use that as an opportunity to announce she is triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

Former Portuguese premier Barroso, who was replaced by Jean-Claude Juncker as commission president in 2014, added that it would be “extremely hard if not impossible” to win approval from all remaining 27 member states to join.

“I would like to be in the same boat as the British. But on which day it will come in March is not of such great significance”, she said.

Britain’s House of Lords, the unelected upper chamber of parliament, wants lawmakers to have a final, binding vote on the outcome of May’s Brexit negotiations and guarantee the rights of European Union citizens already living and working in the United Kingdom.

The House of Lords passed an amendment to the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) bill which called on the Government to bring forward proposals to guarantee unilaterally EU nationals’ rights to remain in the United Kingdom within three months of triggering Article 50.

However, Davis insisted in a Sunday BBC interview that it was “not remotely likely” that there would be a complete breakdown in negotiations: “The simple truth is, we have been planning for the contingency, all the various outcomes, all the possible outcomes”.

If the unelected House of Lords digs in its heels and tries to restore them, the parliamentary feud could delay the bill for several days – but ultimately, the elected Commons will prevail.

Imploring MPs of all political parties to vote in support of the amendment, the letter continues, “Many of our staff do not know whether absences overseas on research contracts will count against them”.

Legislation empowering the prime minister to trigger Article 50 returned to parliament for its final stages on Monday.

It could also encourage the Scottish nationalists who hold power in the devolved government in Edinburgh, who are also meeting on Friday.

The pivotal parliamentary votes this week follow a tumultuous eight months in British politics beginning with last June’s referendum in voters chose to leave the EU.

The amendments were made to the Brexit Bill after being backed by an overwhelming majority of peers and Labour made a “direct appeal” on Friday for Theresa May to let them go ahead.