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A8 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 21 February 2017

UK’s May says Lords must respect people’s will on Brexit

say in the negotiations. of Stoke-on-Trent, May not-
Any amendments they ed that the House of Com-
pass would go back to the mons approved the bill
Commons for approval. earlier this month without
That parliamentary “ping amendments.
pong” could delay the bill’s “I hope that the House of
passage, endangering the Lords will pay attention to
government’s self-imposed that,” she said.
March 31 deadline for trig- Natalie Evans, the Conser-
gering two years of Brexit vative leader of the Lords,
negotiations. said Parliament must re-
Angela Smith, the opposi- spect voters’ decision in a
tion Labour Party’s leader June referendum to leave
in the Lords, promised that the 28-nation bloc.
“we will not block, wreck She warned colleagues not
or sabotage the legislation to try to “restrict the gov-
before us.” ernment’s hand before it
But, she added, “neither enters into complex nego-
should we provide the tiations or attempt to re-run
government with a blank the referendum.”
check.” But Smith said the Lords
Peers packed the red would fulfill its role as the
leather benches of the chamber of sober second
Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May, centre, and Stoke Central by-election candidate Jack Brere-
ton, left, with Emma Bridgewater during a tour of the Emma Bridgewater pottery factory in Stoke- Lords chamber, which thought and hold “a seri-
On-Trent, Monday Feb. 20, 2017. does not have enough ous and a responsible de-
(Christopher Furlong/PA via AP) seats for all 800 members bate.” Almost 200 peers
of the house. In an unusual are due to speak during
JILL LAWLESS warned lawmakers not to the EU divorce process. move for a prime minister, the debate on Monday
Associated Press hold up “what the British The Lords can’t overrule May sat inside the cham- and Tuesday.
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s people want” by trying to the elected House of Com- ber to watch the opening “If we ask the House of
House of Lords launched delay the process. mons, which has already of the debate — a move Commons to look again at
a bid Monday to gain a The Lords, Parliament’s un- passed the bill. some saw as a warning to an issue, it is not a constitu-
greater say for Parliament elected upper chamber, But opposition members peers not to impede the tional outrage, but a con-
over the terms of the U.K.’s began two days of de- of the Lords are seeking will of the people. stitutional responsibility,”
European Union exit, as bate on a bill authorizing amendments to guaran- Speaking earlier on a visit Smith said.q
Prime Minister Theresa May the government to trigger tee Parliament a bigger to the central England city

Amid protests, UK lawmakers debate downgrading Trump visit

JILL LAWLESS year will demean the U.K. graded. Siddiq said Trump should at Buckingham Palace as
Associated Press and Queen Elizabeth II, the All petitions on the gov- not be allowed to spread guests of the monarch,
LONDON (AP) — Thousands president’s official host. ernment’s website that re- “his bigotry, his misogyny, and Flynn said a state visit
of protesters against U.S. Conservative lawmakers, ceive more than 100,000 his division” in Britain. An- would make it appear as if
President Donald Trump however, said revoking signatures are eligible for other Labour lawmaker, the queen were “approv-
rallied outside Britain’s Par- the invitation would do far debate in Parliament, Daniel Zeichner, called the ing the acts of Donald J.
liament on Monday, while more harm. though not a binding vote. president “a disgusting, im- Trump” — a man Flynn said
lawmakers inside urged Tory lawmaker Edward Lawmakers on Monday moral man.” had behaved “like a petu-
the government to rescind Leigh said canceling the also considered an oppos- “We do not welcome big- lant child.”
its offer to the president of state visit would be “cata- ing petition, with more than ots,” he said. Both Bush and Obama
a state visit stamped with strophic” to the trans-Atlan- 300,000 signatures, backing Labour’s Paul Flynn point- made their state visits sev-
pomp, pageantry and roy- tic relationship. the state visit. ed out that a state visit eral years into their tenures.
al approval. “He is the duly elected pres- No formal vote was held at was a “rare privilege” giv- Prime Minister Theresa May
In a passionate debate ident of the United States. the end of the three-hour en to only two other U.S. invited Trump a week after
that’s unlikely to change ... It would be a disaster if debate, which took place presidents since the 1950s his Jan. 20 inauguration.
the British government’s this invitation is rescinded,” in a side-room of Parlia- — George W. Bush and Some lawmakers said
position, Trump was la- Leigh said. ment rather than the House Barack Obama. May’s haste to bolster the
beled a misogynist, a big- Monday’s debate was of Commons chamber. The State visits are distinct from trans-Atlantic “special re-
ot and a “petulant child” called after more than 1.8 chants of protesters outside official visits, and see for- lationship” as the U.K. pre-
by opposition legislators. million people signed an could be heard as lawmak- eign leaders welcomed pares to leave the Europe-
They argued that a state online petition calling for ers spoke. with royal pomp and mili- an Union had an edge of
visit planned for later this the state visit to be down- Labour Party legislator Tulip tary ceremony. Most stay desperation.q