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A copy of the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill was set to be raced to Buckingham Palace for the monarch to give her Royal Assent - possibly at her desk after breakfast when she customarily deals with official papers. But Theresa May confounded predictions she would today exercise the power newly conferred on her by the legislation to trigger up to two years of formal exit talks with the EU. The Prime Minister is now expected to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty towards the end of the month - just before her self-imposed deadline of March 31. But MPs can grill her on her plans today in the Commons when she reports back on last Thursday’s EU summit in Brussels.

PA Queen set to sign Brexit into law as May prepares to trigger Article 50

PA A copy of the bill will be ready for Queen - possibly after her breakfast

Any prospect that we might actually decide to remain in the EU would only serve to encourage those on the other side to give us the worst possible deal in the hope we will do exactly that David Davis

The 137-word Bill due to clear its last Parliamentary hurdles last night was required by Supreme Court judges before Mrs May could invoke Article 50. It cleared the Commons unamended last month but yesterday returned to MPs as the Government urged them to overturn two amendments made by the House of Lords. In an early victory for Mrs May, MPs voted to defeat both amendments - sending the Bill back to the Lords for peers to consider their response. Peers had sought to add onto the Bill a promise that the Government would within three months of Article 50 being invoked spell out guarantees for the 3.2 million EU nationals already living in Britain.

GETTY Mr Davis also promised the Government would give Parliament a vote on the final deal

The Commons defeated that change by 335 votes to 287, Government majority 48, with two Tory rebels joining Labour and other parties, after Brexit Secretary David Davis pledged to seek to resolve the issue as soon as possible in formal talks. But the UK should not offer the guarantee until the around one million Britons on the Continent got similar protection and the EU had refused to consider the matter until Mrs May invoked Article 50, he said. MPs then voted down, by 331 votes to 286, Government majority 45 – with no Tory MPs voting against the Government - the Lords amendment to put into law both Mrs May's promise to give Parliament a vote on her final EU deal - and a guarantee of a vote for Parliament if she does not strike a deal and plans to take Britain out without one. Mrs May has said that no deal is better than a bad deal.

GETTY Mr Davis pledged to seek to resolve the issue as soon as possible in formal talks

LIVE images from the House of Commons Mon, March 13, 2017 MPs tonight voted to scrap both House of Lords' amendments to the Article 50 Bill. ALSO The House of Lords has voted down an attempt to reinsert the amendment on EU nationals by 274 votes to 135. Play slideshow PA 1 of 18 The result of a vote on the Brexit Bill in the House of Lords, London, after MPs overturned House of Lords amendments to a Bill authorising Theresa May to commence Brexit negotiations

Opening a two-hour Commons debate, Mr Davis said he was "disappointed" the Lords had amended a simple Bill with changes that were unnecessary and would damage Britain's negotiating position. Most voters, regardless of how they voted in last June's referendum, now wanted Mrs May to "get on with the job in hand and to do so with no strings attached", Mr Davis told the House. Mr Davis also promised the Government would give Parliament a vote on the final deal. But demanding one if she failed to get a deal could stop her taking Britain out of the EU without a deal if she deemed that the best option. Mr Davis also said the amendment would encourage European negotiators to offer bad terms in hopes Parliament would overturn last June's Brexit vote.

NC Sir Keir accused Mrs May of being “obsessed” with getting the Bill through unchanged

Although its backers said it was just a call for a "meaningful vote, the reality is that there are some who would seek to use this to overturn the result of the referendum. "Any prospect that we might actually decide to remain in the EU would only serve to encourage those on the other side to give us the worst possible deal in the hope we will do exactly that." Urging MPs to reject the Lords' proposals, he told the Commons: "These amendments will undermine the Government's position in the negotiations to get the best possible deal for Britain and that can't be in the national interest." For Labour - as leader Jeremy Corbyn addressed a rally outside Parliament called by hard left allies Momentum in defence of EU citizens - Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer accused Mrs May of being “obsessed” with getting the Bill through unchanged and of using migrants as a " bargaining chip". Lib Dem former leader Nick Clegg said his Dutch mother had lived here for over 50 years, and his wife Miriam is Spanish. Both women had raised families, worked and paid taxes in Britain.

Brexit: Results of how the UK voted Mon, March 20, 2017 Much of the North East of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union including Sunderland, Gateshead, Darlington, Durham, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Stockton, Redcar and Cleveland, North Tyneside and South Tyneside, and Northumberland Play slideshow Getty Images 1 of 8 GREAT YARMOUTH: The town of Great Yarmouth on the East Coast of England voted by 72% to leave the European Union.