The UK government will start divorce talks with the EU when Article 50 is invoked on Wednesday 29 March, Downing Street confirmed on Monday (20 March).

The Treaty base for splitting from the economic and political bloc is the 2009 Lisbon Treaty, otherwise known as the Reform Treaty.

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British Prime Minister Theresa May will now have to write to newly re-elected European Council President Donald Tusk to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, with Brexit Secretary David Davis or Sir Tim Barrow, the UK's representative to the EU, delivering the letter.

Tusk will then consult the other 27 leaders of the Council on the Brexit trigger. A response from the group is expected in around 48 hours after the UK's notification, according to European Commission negotiator Michel Barnier.

The EU leaders will later hold a summit in April or May to decide a final response. The top politicians will carve out negotiating positions and guidelines for the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, to follow.

The Article 50 bill

A bill to:

Confer power on the Prime Minister to notify, under Article 50(2) of the Treaty
on European Union, the United Kingdom's intention to withdraw from the
EU.

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and
consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present
Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

1 Power to notify withdrawal from the EU

(1)The Prime Minister may notify, under Article 50(2) of the Treaty on European
Union, the United Kingdom's intention to withdraw from the EU.

(2)This section has effect despite any provision made by or under the European
5Communities Act 1972 or any other enactment.

2 Short title

This Act may be cited as the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act
2017.

Jean Claude Juncker, as European Commission president, will oversee the process, while Barnier and his taskforce of negotiators deal with the UK government for the next two years. The Belgian capital of Brussels is expected to play host to most of the talks between EU and UK officials.

Barnier has said that he expects a deal to be agreed in 2018 and ratified in 2019.

If the UK fails to secure an agreement with the EU, it will be forced to trade with the bloc on default World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. The Belgian capital of Brussels is expected to play host to most of the talks between EU and UK officials.

May, meanwhile, has promised to invoke Article 50 by the end of March. The UK prime minister outlined her 12-point Brexit plan during her Lancaster House speech in London.

Theresa May's 12-point Brexit plan

  1. Government will provide certainty and clarity to politicians and businesses
  2. UK will 'control our own laws' by quitting the European Court of Justice
  3. Strengthen the 'precious union' between England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland
  4. There will be no 'hard border' between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
  5. UK will 'control' EU immigration, while recruiting the 'brightest and the best' from around the world
  6. Government will seek a reciprocal residency rights deal for EU and UK workers "as soon as possible"
  7. To protect workers' rights
  8. Ministers will seek a 'bold' and 'comprehensive' free trade agreement with the EU
  9. UK will seek a customs agreement so that it can broker its own trade deals with non-EU nations
  10. Maintain European science and innovation ties in bid to keep the UK a 'world leader'
  11. UK will continue to work with the EU to combat the threat of terrorism
  12. Ministers will seek to avoid a 'cliff edge' and seek a smooth split from the EU
Brexit European Union