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WORLD NEWS Thursday 2 February 2017

UK lawmakers back bill to trigger EU exit talks

JILL LAWLESS pedoed Prime Minister The-
Associated Press resa May’s effort to start
LONDON (AP) — Britain the process of leaving the
moved closer to leav- 28-nation bloc without a
ing the European Union parliamentary vote.
Wednesday as lawmak- The government wants to
ers backed a bill authoriz- have the bill approved by
ing divorce proceedings early March so it can meet
and kept alive the govern- a self-imposed March 31
ment’s plan to trigger Brexit deadline for triggering
talks within weeks. the EU divorce talks.
The House of Commons de- Scores of lawmakers spoke
cisively backed the bill by during more than 16 hours
498 votes to 114, sending it of debate over two days.
on for committee scrutiny. Those who backed the
The result was a victory for winning “leave” side in
the Conservative govern- the referendum said they
ment, which had fought in would vote proudly to start
court to avert the vote out the exit process.
of fear Parliament would Others, who voted to re-
impede its Brexit plans. main in the EU, said they
Lawmakers also defeated would respect the will of
a “wrecking amendment” the people despite their
proposed by the Scottish own reservations.
National Party that sought Former Treasury chief
to delay Britain’s exit talks George Osborne, a pro-EU This image taken from Parliamentary Recording Unit TV shows the result of the parliamentary vote
in favor of the British Government’s Brexit Bill being handed to the Speaker of the House of Com-
with the EU because the Conservative, said “to vote mons, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. British lawmakers have backed a bill authorizing the start of
British government has not against the majority ver- European Union exit talks, voting by a decisive 498 to 114 to push the measure past its first major
disclosed detailed plans for dict of the largest demo- legislative hurdle.
its negotiations. cratic exercise in British his- (AP Photo/Parliamentary Recording Unit, via AP)
During two days of debate tory” would set Parliament
in the House of Commons, against the people and the EU exit door with little details it will contain. approve a final deal with
many legislators — Euro- “provoke a deep constitu- idea of what is on the other “Voting for departure is the bloc.
skeptic and Europhile alike tional crisis in our country.” side. not the same as voting for Scottish National Party law-
— said they would back Still others said they would The government says it will a destination,” said Lib- maker Angus MacNeil said
the bill out of respect for oppose the start of with- publish a White Paper out- eral Democrat leader Tim that in acting to trigger
voters’ June 23 decision to drawal negotiations, ac- lining its strategy for with- Farron, who called on the Brexit, “the House of Com-
leave the EU. cusing the government drawal on Thursday, but government to guarantee mons has taken leave of its
But opposition parties will of rushing Britain toward it’s unclear how many new a second referendum to senses.”q
try to insert more amend-
ments during the next stag- Dutch ballots to be counted by hand amid hacking fears
es of the parliamentary
process. They are seeking THE HAGUE, Netherlands by hand. der the system abandoned puter security company
to prevent an economy- (AP) The Dutch govern- The decision underscored Wednesday, those results was investigating election
shocking “hard Brexit,” in ment announced Wednes- fears that hackers could are taken to municipalities software for possible vulner-
which Britain loses full ac- day it is scrapping com- attempt to influence the where software is used to abilities.
cess to the EU’s single mar- puter software used to tally outcome of the election. tally results from individual That investigation is con-
ket and faces restrictions or and transmit election re- Those fears grew following polling stations. tinuing.
tariffs on trade. sults amid reports that the the U.S. election last year in The same software is then Dutch news broadcaster
After committee consider- software is outdated and which the U.S. government used again by electoral RTL reported in recent days
ation, the bill is due to re- could easily be hacked. said Russia hacked into districts and the national that software experts con-
turn to the House of Com- In a letter to Parliament, Democratic emails in order Electoral Commission to sidered the government’s
mons for a final vote next Interior Minister Ronald to help Republican Donald compile definitive results. system extremely easy to
week before moving on to Plasterk wrote that “no Trump get elected as presi- Now hand counts will be hack. One expert from Am-
Parliament’s upper cham- shadow can be allowed to dent. used at every stage of the sterdam’s Free University,
ber, the House of Lords. hang over the result” of the Dutch voters mark their count. Herbert Bos,
The government was March 15 election. choice of party using a red Amid fears of possible at- told RTL that if one of his
forced to introduce the Plasterk said municipalities pencil on a ballot paper, tempts to hack the results, students had turned in the
legislation after a Supreme and electoral regions will they are then counted by the Electoral Commission electoral program “I’d fail
Court ruling last week tor- now have to tally all votes hand at polling stations. Un- said this week that a com- him.”q