Lords are urged to back Brexit bill after MPs vote

Leader plays down talk of abolishing the upper chamber

LONDON // Legislation empowering prime minister Theresa May to start Brexit negotiations moved to the upper house of parliament yesterday, with the House of Lords urged to do their “patriotic duty” and back it. Parliament’s lower chamber, the House of Commons, backed the bill on Wednesday to allow Mrs May to trigger Article 50 of the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty, which she has promised to do by the end of March.

Downing Street played down a warning by an unnamed government source that the unelected second chamber could face abolition if it stood in the way of Britain’s exit from the EU.

“I expect it to do its job and to do its patriotic duty and actually give us the right to go on and negotiate that new relationship” with the EU,” Brexit minister David Davis said of the House of Lords. An unnamed official had earlier said the Lords would “face an overwhelming public call to be abolished if they now try and frustrate this bill”.

Mrs May’s Conservative party does not have a majority in the House of Lords, raising the possibility that peers may seek to block Brexit.

However, the opposition Labour leader in the chamber, Baroness Angela Smith, said in October she would not be obstructive.

“We will scrutinise; we will examine; we will not block,” she said.

Britain’s upper house, with 805 members, is the second- largest parliamentary chamber in the world, beaten only by China’s National People’s Congress. The EU ( Notification of Withdrawal) Bill passed the Commons by 494 votes to 122 on Wednesday and after parliament takes a break next week, will be debated on by the House of Lords from February 20. Ministers hope it will be approved on March 7.

Mrs May initially sought to bypass parliament, prompting an appeal to the supreme court which last month ruled she must obtain their approval to trigger Article 50.

But during five days of debate on the bill, it became clear that most MPs would not stop the process – even if some warned that leaving Europe’s single market could be disastrous. The Labour party and the Scottish National Party tabled amendments demanding guarantees on market access, workers’ rights and those of EU citizens in Britain. Each was defeated but during the process the government was forced to promise politicians a vote on the Brexit deal before it is concluded.