Queen Elizabeth II approves law that would force UK govt to delay Brexit, says House of Lords

Queen Elizabeth II has given her formal approval to a law that would force the UK government to delay Brexit if it is not able to strike a divorce deal with Brussels, the House of Lords said on Monday. “#EUWithdrawal6Bill receives Royal Assent,” the British parliament’s upper chamber said on Twitter, referring to the newly-passed law.

#EUWithdrawal6Bill receives Royal Assent. Watch as @LordSpeaker notifies #HouseofLords https://t.co/3K4GA0esJ0 pic.twitter.com/1Njt3Z8Vfo

— House of Lords (@UKHouseofLords) September 9, 2019

The upper chamber had last week approved the bill which aims at blocking a  no-deal Brexit  at the end of October by forcing Prime Minister Boris Johnson to seek a delay to Britain’s European Union departure. The legislation requires the UK prime minister to ask for a three-month extension to Britain’s EU membership if parliament has not approved either a deal or consented to leave without agreement by 19 October. Johnson has dubbed it the “surrender bill” and said it has scuppered his Brexit negotiations with the EU by removing the threat of leaving without a deal. On Thursday, he said he would rather be  “dead in a ditch” than delay Britain’s EU exit . He kicked 21 lawmakers out of his Conservative Party’s Parliamentary group last week for  working with Opposition parties  in the House of Commons to pass the legislation against the government’s wishes. With inputs from agencies