LONDON -- The United Kingdom on Monday moved a step closer to leaving the European Union when Parliament voted to give Prime Minister Theresa May the power to file for divorce from the bloc.
Earlier Monday, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called for a referendum on independence within two years to stop Scotland being removed from the EU against its will.
In an announcement that took many London politicians by surprise, Sturgeon vowed that Scotland would not be "taken down a path that we do not want to go down without a choice."
Sturgeon spoke in Edinburgh hours before the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill passed its final hurdle in Parliament's upper chamber, the House of Lords.
The House of Commons approved the bill weeks ago, but the 800-member House of Lords fought to amend it, inserting a promise that EU citizens living in the U.K. will be allowed to remain after Britain pulls out of the bloc.
Members also added a demand that Parliament get a "meaningful" vote on the final deal between Britain and the remaining 27 EU nations.
Both amendments were rejected Monday by the House of Commons, where May's Conservatives have a majority. A handful of pro-EU Conservatives expressed their objection, then abstained from the vote.
The bill returned to the House of Lords. Members backed down and approved it without amendments.
Dianne Hayter, a Labor member of the House of Lords who proposed the amendment on EU citizens, said the members had done their best but that "our view has been rejected in the elected House of Commons, and it is clear the government is not for turning."
Once the bill receives royal assent, May will be free to invoke Article 50 of the EU's key treaty, triggering two years of exit negotiations. May has set a deadline of March 31 to begin the exit process.
May was forced to seek Parliament's approval for the move after a Supreme Court ruling in January torpedoed her attempt to start the process of leaving the bloc without a parliamentary vote.
The House of Commons and the House of Lords battled over the bill's contents, with the status of EU nationals in Britain -- and Britons in fellow EU member countries -- drawing emotional debate.
Both British and EU officials have said such residents should be guaranteed the right to stay where they are, but the two sides have so far failed to provide a concrete guarantee, leaving millions of people in limbo.
Scottish National Party lawmaker Joanna Cherry told the House of Commons that one constituent, a Lithuanian, had told her that "the uncertainty caused by this government and this Parliament is making her feel worse about her personal situation in Britain than she did in Lithuania under the Soviets."
David Davis, the secretary of state for exiting the EU, told lawmakers that the government had a "moral responsibility" to the 3 million EU citizens living in Britain and the 1 million Britons in other member states and that it intends to guarantee their rights as soon as possible after exit talks start.
"That is why we must pass this straightforward bill without further delay, so the prime minister can get to work on the negotiations and we can secure a quick deal that secures the status of both European Union citizens in the U.K. and also U.K. nationals living in the EU," he said.
The government's satisfaction at victory in Parliament was tempered by the prospect of an independence vote that threatens the 300-year-old political union between England and Scotland.
Sturgeon said she would seek to hold a referendum between the fall of 2018 and the spring of 2019 so Scottish voters could make an "informed choice" about their future.
While Britons overall voted to leave the EU, Scottish voters backed remaining by 62 percent to 38 percent. Sturgeon said they should not be forced to follow the rest of the U.K. into a "hard Brexit" outside the EU single market.
In a 2014 referendum, Scottish voters rejected independence by 55 percent to 45 percent. But Sturgeon said the U.K.'s decision to leave the EU had brought about a "material change of circumstances."
May, whose government would have to approve a legally binding referendum, accused Sturgeon's Scottish National Party of political "tunnel vision" and called the announcement "deeply regrettable."
A Section on 03/14/2017