British Prime Minister Theresa May today exhorted the members of House of Lords to not to hold up the crucial Brexit Bill already passed unchanged by the House of Commons.
Her intervention came asthe House of Lords, where the Conservative party does not hold a majority, began debating theEU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill, with a vote expected by tomorrow evening.
On a visit to the constituency of Stoke ahead of a by-election there later this week, May said: "[The Bill] was not amended [in the House of Commons]. I hope that the House of Lords will pay attention to that.
"Properly there will be debate and scrutiny in the House of Lords, but I don't want to see anybody holding up what the British people want, what the people of Stoke-on-Trent voted for last year, which is for us to deliver Brexit, to leave the European Union."
Some time later she was seen in the House of Lords steps to watch the debate kick off.
In a British PM's rare appearance in the Lords, May sat in the chamber'steps below the royal throne, as she is allowed to do as a member of the UK's Privy Council.
MPs in the House of Commons have already given their go-ahead to the so-called Brexit Bill, which gives May the authority to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to initiate Brexit negotiations.
The UK government does not have a majority in the House of Lords, where as many as 190 peers are due to speak during the debate, which will include a number of amendments being proposed.
Opposition and crossbench peers are seeking guarantees about the rights of EU citizens in Britain following an exit from the EU and the role of Parliament in scrutinising Britain's final exit deal with the economic bloc.
The Lords begins the Second Reading debate on the Bill and a vote will take place on Tuesday only if peers allow government legislation through unopposed at this stage.
Detailed scrutiny of the bill at committee stage is due to take place on February 27 and March 1.
If the bill is not amended, then it could theoretically be approved by the Lords at Third Reading on March 7 and go on to become a law.
However, if peers do make changes to the bill, it would be a direct challenge to the Commons MPs who have effectively passed the bill unaltered.
Parliamentary norm would lead to MPs then overturning any Lords amendments.
The Conservatives have the largest number of peers in the Lords, with 252 members, but the Opposition has 202 Labour peers and 102 Lib Dems, who are expected to join forces against the government.
It will be the 178 crossbench in the Lords, who are not aligned to any party, who are expected to determine the final outcome of the Second Reading.
May has declared her intention to invoke Article 50 by the end of next month and believes she can stick to that timetable.
She was forced to table the Bill after the Supreme Court ruled in January that the government must seek parliamentary approval on pressing the Brexit trigger button.
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Meanwhile, May is in Swansea, Wales, as part of a UK-wide tour, which will cover Northern Ireland and Scotland, before the formal Brexit notification next week.
Her aim is to enforce a message of unity in the wake of Scotland demanding a second referendum over its independence from the United Kingdom.
The developments come as an independent think tank warned that up to 15 new bills could be needed to deliver Brexit.
The Institute for Government said in a report titled 'Legislating Brexit' that the extra 15 measures would cover areas including immigration, agriculture and customs.
They would be in addition to the Great Repeal bill, which will end EU legal authority in the country by scrapping the 1972 European Communities Act.
"Brexit will place a huge burden on both Parliament and Government departments," the report warns.
EU leaders have said they intend to conclude Brexit talks within 18 months to allow the terms of the UK's exit to be ratified by the UK Parliament and the European Parliament, as well as approved by the necessary majority of EU states.
May has said that Britain's House of Commons and Lords will have a vote on the deal she negotiates but she has insisted the UK will leave anyway even if Parliament rejects that deal.
