Local Editor

British Prime Minister Theresa May will make a major statement to parliament on Tuesday, just hours after MPs enabled her to start the withdrawal process from the European Union.

After weeks of wrangling, lawmakers on Monday finally granted May the right to trigger Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, which would start the two-year divorce process with the bloc.

The result came as Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced that she intended to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence at a time when Brexit negotiations are expected to be reaching a conclusion.

Sturgeon said she wanted a vote to be held between autumn 2018 and spring 2019 - but there is speculation that May will reject the idea of the referendum being held before the Brexit process is completed.

Brexit Secretary David Davis said: "We are now on the threshold of the most important negotiation for our country in a generation."

The EU Withdrawal Bill was passed un-amended late on Monday after peers voted by 274 votes to 118 not to challenge the Commons again over the issue of whether Parliament should have a veto on the terms of exit.

The House of Lords also agreed not to reinsert guarantees over the status of EU residents in the UK into the bill, with the government winning the vote by a margin of 274 votes to 135.

Later analysis of the division list for the first Lords vote on EU citizens' rights to remain in the UK showed that 25 Labor peers sided with the Lib Dems, including former cabinet minister Lord Mandelson.

Earlier, the government had comfortably won votes on the issues in the Commons, with only a handful of Tory MPs rebelling.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team