Thursday 16 March 2017

Queen gives royal assent to Brexit Bill, it's time Theresa May stopped dithering

The Queen gave royal assent to the Brexit bill today, paving the way for Theresa May to invoke Article 50 and begin the process of taking the UK out of the EU.

The Prime Minister still hasn't given a date when she will send the letter informing the EU that we are leaving, leading to yet more speculation about her motives. Is she hoping that it will be delayed again by vexatious legal challenges from the likes of anti-democracy campaigner Gina Miller who has promised to try to block Brexit again?

There really is no excuse for dragging this process out any further. The Prime Minister needs to move quickly if we are to avoid the next EU referendum and paying unnecessary membership fees. For every week that Theresa May delays invoking Article 50 we make a net contribution to the EU of a quarter of a billion pounds. That's almost the entire budget for transport being spent on an organisation that we voted to leave 9 months ago.