‘Carrying out the will of the people!’ David Davis hails Brexit Bill victory as ‘historic’

The Brexit Secretary was gleeful as he said it was a “historic” day, adding there was now a “big majority for getting on with negotiating the exit”.

MPs voted overwhelmingly to approve the legislation in its final Commons reading which gives Theresa May the green light to begin official EU talks.

The European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill was backed by 492 MPs to 122 with no amendments added.

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David Davis hailed the Government's victory as "historic"

It’s a historic vote today and it got through with a large majority at every turn

David Davis

Speaking on Sky News a short while after it was passed, Mr Davis said: “It’s a historic vote today and it got through with a large majority at every turn.

“It’s carried out the will of the British people, that is what Parliament has done today and it has put through a bill that is just 137 words long.

“It’s very simple and it just authorises the Government to do what the people told them to do, that’s not railroading anything through – it’s carrying out the will of the people.”

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The Brexit Secretary said the Government had a large majority to "get on with it"

An amendment to the bill which would have guaranteed the rights of EU citizens living in the UK was rejected on Wednesday.

The clause, tabled by ex-Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman, was thrown out by 332 MPs, while 290 voted for it.

The prime minister has repeatedly refused to agree the status of EU nationals until negotiations with the bloc begin.

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Theresa May has refused to guarantee EU citizens rights until after negotiations begin

The Brexit Secretary backed up Mrs May’s tough stance but insisted the Government would work to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

“We have made it very plain, the prime minister has made it plain, I’ve made it plain, we started on day one to try and get an agreement with the European Union about European citizens here and British citizens abroad.

“We will do that again the moment we start negotiations, we are expecting, we are intending and we are confident that we’ll get those citizens’ rights set down and guaranteed in the very near future.”

Now the bill has been passed in the House of Commons, the same process will take place in the House of Lords.

Unelected peers will scrutinise the legislation once they return from recess on 20 February.

It’s expected the bill will go through, meaning the prime minster will be on course to trigger Article 50 by the end of March.

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