Britain kick-starts 2-year Brexit process
The two-year countdown to Brexit begins today, nine months after Britain voted to leave the European Union in a referendum last summer. A period of negotiations with Brussels has started as British Prime Minister Theresa May formally triggers Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.
May will tell parliament that her letter to European Council President Donald Tusk notifying him formally of Britain's intention to leave has just been delivered. EU officials expect a signed letter of several pages to be hand delivered from Britain's EU embassy across the street. They think it will offer a positive tone on talks and recap 12 key points that May set out as her goals in a speech on Jan. 17. Within 48 hours after reading the letter, Tusk will send the 27 other states draft negotiating guidelines. He will outline his views in Malta, where he will be attending a congress of center-right leaders.
Britain voted by a roughly 52 percent majority to leave the European Union on the referendum held June 23, 2016 - the first member state ever to do so. The divorce process under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty gives a two-year framework for negotiations.
Despite May's assertion that she will seek the best Brexit deal for all of Britain, including Scotland, she has failed to convince the SNP, which has warned of the negative consequences of leaving the EU.
Lawmakers in Edinburgh voted on Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon's bid for a new referendum yesterday, despite the prime minister's last-minute appeals.
May made a plea for unity ahead of Britain's historic EU departure. Sturgeon and May met in Scotland on Monday, with the prime minister reiterating that "now is not the time" for a referendum and describing the four nations of the United Kingdom as an "unstoppable force."
The SNP leader has suggested an independence vote should be held by spring 2019 at the latest - before Britain leaves the EU - although after winning the backing of Scottish parliament she needs approval from London for a referendum to take place.
Rejecting such a request would be politically risky for May, whose government is also trying to prevent the collapse of the power-sharing arrangement that governs Northern Ireland.
May will tell parliament that her letter to European Council President Donald Tusk notifying him formally of Britain's intention to leave has just been delivered. EU officials expect a signed letter of several pages to be hand delivered from Britain's EU embassy across the street. They think it will offer a positive tone on talks and recap 12 key points that May set out as her goals in a speech on Jan. 17. Within 48 hours after reading the letter, Tusk will send the 27 other states draft negotiating guidelines. He will outline his views in Malta, where he will be attending a congress of center-right leaders.
Britain voted by a roughly 52 percent majority to leave the European Union on the referendum held June 23, 2016 - the first member state ever to do so. The divorce process under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty gives a two-year framework for negotiations.
Despite May's assertion that she will seek the best Brexit deal for all of Britain, including Scotland, she has failed to convince the SNP, which has warned of the negative consequences of leaving the EU.
Lawmakers in Edinburgh voted on Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon's bid for a new referendum yesterday, despite the prime minister's last-minute appeals.
May made a plea for unity ahead of Britain's historic EU departure. Sturgeon and May met in Scotland on Monday, with the prime minister reiterating that "now is not the time" for a referendum and describing the four nations of the United Kingdom as an "unstoppable force."
The SNP leader has suggested an independence vote should be held by spring 2019 at the latest - before Britain leaves the EU - although after winning the backing of Scottish parliament she needs approval from London for a referendum to take place.
Rejecting such a request would be politically risky for May, whose government is also trying to prevent the collapse of the power-sharing arrangement that governs Northern Ireland.