Douglas Carswell, the only UKIP MP, who defected from the Conservative Party in 2014, is quitting UKIP to become an independent MP for Clacton.
He says the split is amicable and that he he is leaving because he feels his job is done at UKIP. Meaning that he is now certain that Brexit will be completed.
He is not crossing the floor of the Commons so no by-election will be needed.
The Queen has given Royal Assent to the Brexit Bill
It now becomes The European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act which means that the Prime Minister Theresa May can now issue the Article 50 notice to the EU and commence the UK’s process of leaving the EU.
House of Lords pass Brexit Bill allowing it to receive the Royal Assent.
The House of Lords have finally passed the Brexit Bill after making two changes to it which were then defeated by the House of Commons.
The Bill can now receive the Royal Assent allowing it to become an Act.
The result of the Act means that the Prime Minister can now trigger Article 50 to begin the official discussions with the EU concerning conditions for the UK to leave the EU.
The House of Lords had originally made two ammendments.
1. This concerned protecting the rights of EU citizens in the UK.
2. Which pushed for requiring a meaningful parliamentary vote on the final deal.
Both ammendments were defeated by MP’s in the House of Commons and were removed from the final Bill.
MPs voted on Wednesday 7th Dec 2016 in the House of Commons 461 to 89 to respect the result of the Brexit referendum on 23rd June 2016 and invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty by 31st March 2017.
Theresa May to trigger Article 50 by the end of March 2017.
The Prime Minister has said that the formal process to leave the EU will begin by the end of March 2017.
Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty will be triggered then.
PM said that the June 2016 vote on Brexit to leave the EU was also a clear message from the British people that they want us to control the movement of people coming into the UK.
Theresa May to introduce Repeal Act in Queens Speech.
Prime Minister May is to introduce an EU Repeal Act in the forthcoming Queens Speech.
The Bill will remove the European Communities Act 1972 from the statute book. May says this would make the UK an independent sovereign nation.
The repeal of the 1972 Act takes effect when the UK leaves the EU under Article 50. The Repeal Act will enshrine existing EU law into British Law and would allow the Government to amend or cancel any legislation after Brexit.
Repeal Act would also end the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.