Queen signs Brexit trigger Bill into law

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday gave her Royal Assent to the Brexit trigger bill, authorising PM Theresa May to invoke Article 50 to begin the country's exit negotiations from the EU.

The European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill had been passed by MPs and Lords in Parliament earlier this week and the monarch's signature means May will be able to keep to her declared March-end timetable of informing the EU that Britain has invoked Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which relates to leaving the 28-member economic bloc.

"This will be a defining moment for our whole country as we begin to forge a new relationship with Europe but also a new role for ourselves in the world. We will be a strong, self-governing, global Britain with control once again over our borders and our laws," May had told the House of Commons earlier this week. She had indicated that after a "number of processes that will take place", she will return to the Commons before the end of the month to inform Parliament that she has invoked Article 50, after which a two-year negotiation time-frame is triggered for Britain to leave and strike a new deal with Europe as an EU non-member.