Theresa May triggers Article 50

[beth]

Theresa May triggers Article 50, Brexit begins: as it happened


Latest news and analysis as the UK officially notifies the EU it’s leaving.



The British government has formally triggered Article 50, firing the starting gun on Brexit negotiations.

Tim Barrow, the U.K.’s permanent representative in Brussels, hand-delivered a letter from Prime Minister Theresa May to Donald Tusk, President of the European Council.

This moment — B-day as it is being referred to in Westminster — has dominated political debate in the U.K. and across Europe ever since the referendum on June 23 last year, in which 51.9 percent of the U.K. voted in favour of leaving the bloc.

For a deal to be concluded within the two-year timeline, both sides need to have reached an agreement in just 18 months — by October 2018 — leaving enough time for the U.K. and European parliaments to sign off on the divorce terms.

Tusk is expected to deliver “draft guidelines” for the negotiations on Friday. A Brexit summit for EU leaders minus May is set for April 29 to discuss the EU27’s negotiating position in the talks.

Here’s your essential POLITICO reading list to help you navigate the Brexit talks.


Coverage and comments, here
www.politico.eu/article/theresa-may-triggers-article-50-brexit-begins-live-blog/

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May to send Article 50 letter strapped to a bulldog in a Spitfire


THERESA May will trigger Article 50 by strapping a letter to a no-nonsense bulldog that will fly to Brussels in a Spitfire.

Trevor the bulldog will take off from Seething Airfield in Norfolk, one of the most important RAF bases during the Battle of Britain. Before being placed in the aircraft he will be stroked by Dame Vera Lynn and a member of the public who won a raffle at a lovely village fete.

Trevor will parachute out of the Spitfire as it passes over the European Commission headquarters, before waddling heroically into the building in search of commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.

Trevor has been trained to find Juncker by sniffing a napkin that Theresa May stole from the lunch table at the most recent EU summit.

He will bark at Juncker until the bureaucrat takes the letter from a specially made leather pouch.

Trevor will then urinate for a full 30 seconds on the incredibly plush carpet before being transported back to London in a 1958 Morris Minor Traveller and one of the little ships that took part in the Dunkirk evacuation.

A European Commission spokesman said: “If the animal does not have a valid Pet Passport it will be quarantined indefinitely.”


lighten up

[mouse]

not totally free yet
still ways to go but its another step forward...in the right direction
still theres the outrageous claim for £50 billion to be settled and many other non issues to be settled
as so many of us have always suspected..it was more about our contributions than any pretence of our well being ..made clear when they wouldn't accept Scotland... they are going to miss our contributions when they finally stop being dropped into the pot ..

its all gone very quiet on the EU intentions of setting up a new personal EU tax in all member states..an added tax placed on every working person which would go directly to Brussels not national states plus the rises in amounts of contributions by member states

given the bile spouted .. the attempts to intimidate and threats that came out of the EU by the unelected after the result of the referendum.. we are well out of it
I think those of us who wanted out have been out in mindset since the result of the refer was announced .even though the details still have to be hammered out