The Article 50 legislation paving the way for Theresa May to start the Brexit process is to be rushed through the Commons within a fortnight.
The European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill will face its first test next week, with debates on Tuesday and Wednesday.
But MPs reacted with anger after it was confirmed that the detailed scrutiny stages - where dozens of amendments are expected to be considered - will be allocated just three days, with the Bill expected to clear the Commons on Wednesday February 8.
The legislation, which has just two clauses including the description of its short title, is "straightforward", the Department for Exiting the European Union said.
Brexit Secretary David Davis said: "The British people have made the decision to leave the EU and this Government is determined to get on with the job of delivering it.
"So today we have introduced a Bill in Parliament which will allow us to formally trigger Article 50 by the end of March.
"I trust that Parliament, which backed the referendum by six to one, will respect the decision taken by the British people and pass the legislation quickly."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel