Rayleigh and Wickford MP Mark Francois recently voted in favour of the Bill which will allow the Prime Minister to trigger Article 50 and thus commence the negotiations for Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union. The EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill, was debated for five days in the House of Commons recently and passed by a majority of 498 votes to 114.
Mark, who supported Brexit during last year’s referendum campaign, was one of those MPs who voted for the Bill in order to give effect to the will of the British people, as expressed in the referendum. Mark also spoke during the debate on the matter of trade relations and pointed out to the Commons that the German BDI – the German equivalent of the British CBI – had stated there should be no trade retaliation against Britain for leaving the EU, given the importance of Britain as a market for German exports.
The Bill will now proceed to the House of Lords where it will be considered and will hopefully be passed in time for the Prime Minister to trigger Article 50 as originally scheduled by the end of March 2017.
Commenting on his support for the Bill Mark Francois said:
“In last year’s referendum the British people voted by a majority of over 1 million votes for us to leave the European Union. This important Bill helps make their wish a reality by empowering the Prime Minister to commence the negotiating process by which we will leave. This is an important piece of legislation and I was pleased to be able to lend my support to it during the debates in the House of Commons, some of which went on well past midnight.”