After a fairly tame set of questions to Brexit minister David Davis in the House of Commons, the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill has finally been published.

This follows a Supreme Court ruling that Prime Minister Theresa May cannot trigger Article 50 to begin Brexit negotiations without first seeking the consent of Parliament.

Government generally has the upper hand in Parliament when it comes to legislation. But it has found itself somewhat exposed with this Bill, due to conflicting priorities.

On the one hand, May and her ministers have consistently taken the line that parliament should play only a minimal role in the Article 50 process: even the recent concession of a parliamentary vote on the final deal was less than it seemed, given that it will be a choice between a deal that Parliament didn’t like and no deal at all.

On the other, May has also staked a good deal of her credibility on triggering Article 50 by the end of March. Her firmness on this is shaped strongly by the degree to which her party is willing to give her some room for manoeuvre in organising Brexit, without letting the schedule slip any further. These conflicting priorities mean that the Government will have to tread a very fine line.

What experts have said about Brexit Show all 11 1 /11 What experts have said about Brexit What experts have said about Brexit Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond The Chancellor claims London can still be a world financial hub despite Brexit “One of Britain’s great strengths is the ability to offer and aggregate all of the services the global financial services industry needs” “This has not changed as a result of the EU referendum and I will do everything I can to ensure the City of London retains its position as the world’s leading international financial centre.” Reuters What experts have said about Brexit Yanis Varoufakis Greece's former finance minister compared the UK relations with the EU bloc with a well-known song by the Eagles: “You can check out any time you like, as the Hotel California song says, but you can't really leave. The proof is Theresa May has not even dared to trigger Article 50. It's like Harrison Ford going into Indiana Jones' castle and the path behind him fragmenting. You can get in, but getting out is not at all clear” Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Michael O’Leary Ryanair boss says UK will be ‘screwed’ by EU in Brexit trade deals: “I have no faith in the politicians in London going on about how ‘the world will want to trade with us’. The world will want to screw you – that's what happens in trade talks,” he said. “They have no interest in giving the UK a deal on trade” Getty What experts have said about Brexit Tim Martin JD Wetherspoon's chairman has said claims that the UK would see serious economic consequences from a Brexit vote were "lurid" and wrong: “We were told it would be Armageddon from the OECD, from the IMF, David Cameron, the chancellor and President Obama who were predicting locusts in the fields and tidal waves in the North Sea" PA What experts have said about Brexit Mark Carney Governor of Bank of England is 'serene' about Bank of England's Brexit stance: “I am absolutely serene about the … judgments made both by the MPC and the FPC” Reuters What experts have said about Brexit Christine Lagarde IMF chief urges quick Brexit to reduce economic uncertainty: “We want to see clarity sooner rather than later because we think that a lack of clarity feeds uncertainty, which itself undermines investment appetites and decision making” Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Inga Beale Lloyd’s chief executive says Brexit is a major issue: "Clearly the UK's referendum on its EU membership is a major issue for us to deal with and we are now focusing our attention on having in place the plans that will ensure Lloyd's continues trading across Europe” EPA What experts have said about Brexit Colm Kelleher President of US bank Morgan Stanley says City of London ‘will suffer’ as result of the EU referendum: “I do believe, and I said prior to the referendum, that the City of London will suffer as result of Brexit. The issue is how much” What experts have said about Brexit Richard Branson Virgin founder believes we've lost a THIRD of our value because of Brexit and cancelled a deal worth 3,000 jobs: We're not any worse than anybody else, but I suspect we've lost a third of our value which is dreadful for people in the workplace.' He continued: "We were about to do a very big deal, we cancelled that deal, that would have involved 3,000 jobs, and that’s happening all over the country" Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Barack Obama US President believes Britain was wrong to vote to leave the EU: "It is absolutely true that I believed pre-Brexit vote and continue to believe post-Brexit vote that the world benefited enormously from the United Kingdom's participation in the EU. We are fully supportive of a process that is as little disruptive as possible so that people around the world can continue to benefit from economic growth" Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Kristin Forbes American economist and an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England argues that the economy had been “less stormy than many expected” following the shock referendum result: “For now…the economy is experiencing some chop, but no tsunami. The adverse winds could quickly pick up – and merit a stronger policy response. But recently they have shifted to a more favourable direction” Getty

There will be two days allocated to the second reading debate – which will focus on the general principle of the Bill (that of notification to withdraw from the EU). This is important for the House of Commons, which will sit until midnight on one of the debate days. But it won’t be of too much concern to the government. Although there will be a vote at the end of the debate, the Government is unlikely to lose.

MPs will then have three days to try to amend the Bill during its committee stage. Given the importance of this issue, it will take place on the floor of the House. As such, a large number of amendments are undoubtedly on the way – from Labour, the SNP, the Liberal Democrats and maybe even Tory rebels. The SNP has already said it has 50 amendments “ready to go”. These committee stages are usually hectic, with very large groups of amendments being debated at the same time.

The Commons may well give the Government a tough time here. It could try to force either changes to the Bill or concessions for the negotiation to come. It might, for example, demand that Parliament should be both briefed and involved in the Article 50 process post-notification. But that all depends on whether or not MPs can carefully weave this into their amendments to the Bill so that they are selected for debate.

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The more daunting challenge is the House of Lords. The Government can dominate the House of Commons but it doesn’t have a majority in the Upper House. That means it has no control over the timetable for the consideration of the Bill, so peers could make the debate last much longer than the Government would like, potentially going well beyond the March deadline. It is here more than ever that the Government may have to make a judgement on avoiding getting bogged down in debate versus making concessions to MPs or peers that might come back to haunt ministers further in the process of negotiation.

May has already nullified one line of attack by promising to produce a white paper on her Brexit plan. Apart from the immediate pleasure of discombobulating Jeremy Corbyn at Prime Minister’s Questions and forcing the opposition parties to delete some of their draft amendments to the Bill, this concession looks relatively low-cost. A White Paper need not commit the Government to any particular line in negotiations and it simultaneously makes it harder for rebels to portray May as completely unaccommodating.

The real fight on Brexit will not be on notification itself taking place, but scrutiny of the process of negotiation thereafter. The tight wording of the Article 50 bill is intended to stymie any efforts to add in amendments to the effect that Parliament should have a full and continuing role in Brexit negotiations.

There was much speculation about its length of the Bill (one line or three?) and whether or not it would be “bomb proof”. The published Bill is only 133 words and has only two clauses. As expected, it is very tightly framed, focusing only on the notification of the intention to withdraw from the EU. This should limit the number of amendments that can be made, since each has to be within the scope of the Bill.

Deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, who will chair the Bill’s committee stage, will have full discretion over which amendments make it through to debate. So it remains to be seen just how bomb-proof this Bill actually is over the next couple of weeks, but much will hinge on whether there is a clear legal separation between notification and negotiation. If MPs can tag amendments relating to the future negotiations onto the Bill, it could open the floodgates and put the government under enormous pressure to clarify its plans for Brexit and to give Parliament a stronger role.