UK parliament passes Brexit bill though a fight looms before it becomes law

The repeal bill intended to end political, financial and legal ties with the EU passed 326 to 290. The vote is the first of many stages the bill must pass before it becomes law.

Pro-EU supporters participate in an anti-Brexit protest outside Parliament on September 11, 2017. The bill will convert nearly 12,000 EU laws into UK laws and regulations.
AP

Pro-EU supporters participate in an anti-Brexit protest outside Parliament on September 11, 2017. The bill will convert nearly 12,000 EU laws into UK laws and regulations.

A key Brexit bill passed its first big hurdle in Parliament early Tuesday. But many legislators branded the bill a government power grab and vowed to change it before it becomes law.

After a debate that stretched past midnight, the House of Commons backed the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill by a vote of 326 to 290. That means lawmakers approve the bill in principle, but the government will now face attempts to amend it before a final vote later this year.

A key plank in the Conservative government's Brexit plans, the bill aims to convert thousands of EU laws and regulations into U.K. domestic laws on the day Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019.

The opposition says it would give the government dangerous new powers to amend laws without parliamentary scrutiny.

It calls for incorporating all EU laws into UK statutes so they can then be kept, amended or scrapped by Britain's Parliament. The government says that will fulfil the promise of anti-EU campaigners during last year's referendum to "take back control" of the country from Brussels to London.

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Critics say the bill gives the government too much power, because it allows ministers to fix "deficiencies" in EU law without the parliamentary scrutiny usually needed to make or amend legislation. Such measures are often referred to as "Henry VIII powers.

Opponents worry the government could use the powers to water down environmental standards, employment regulations or human rights protections.

Labour Party lawmaker Chris Bryant said the bill "pretends to bring back power to this country, but it actually represents the biggest peacetime power grab by the executive over the legislature, by the government over Parliament, in 100 years."

Members of Labour, the main opposition party, were ordered by their leader to vote against the bill. A few rebelled or abstained, wary of being seen as trying to frustrate voters' decision to leave the EU.

Opposition lawmakers, backed by some Conservatives, say they will try to amend the bill at the next stage, when it receives line-by-line scrutiny before a final vote. Conservative lawmakers signalled that the government would likely agree to water down the contentious Henry VIII powers.

In addition, a new UK position paper on defence unexpectedly showed that the government is willing to contribute troops to European Union military missions after the UK leaves the bloc. Britain says it wants close cooperation with the bloc on defence and foreign affairs, including joint foreign-policy positions and cooperation on sanctions.

The government plans to publish details of its proposals Tuesday, in the latest in a series of position papers on aspects of Brexit.

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