
British Prime Minister Theresa May will trigger EU withdrawal talks under Article 50 on March 29, Downing Street has announced. The Prime Minister’s letter officially notifying the European Council of the UK’s intention to quit will set in train a two-year negotiation process expected to lead to Britain leaving the EU on 29 March 2019.

Tony Blair has said Labour must back staying in the European Union to “recover its strategic grip on affairs and be competitive”. The former prime minister said he was not being disloyal, but that it is simply not credible to pretend that his party’s position is anything other than “serious”.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is to warn Prime Minister Theresa May she will “shatter beyond repair” the notion that the UK is a partnership of equals if she turns down a request from the Scottish Parliament to hold a second independence referendum.

Finance minister Nicolas Dujovne will be heading this week the largest Argentine business delegation to visit the UK in twenty years, jointly organized by the Argentine-British Chamber of Commerce with support from the Argentine foreign ministry and the embassy in London.

The UK government is to reject calls for a Scottish independence referendum before Brexit after Theresa May said now is not the time. The prime minister said the focus should be on getting the best Brexit deal for the whole of the UK.

The British Parliament passed on Monday the Brexit bill, paving the way for the government to trigger Article 50 so the UK can leave the European Union. Peers backed down over the issues of EU residency rights and a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal after their objections were overturned by MPs. The bill is expected to receive Royal Assent and become law on Tuesday.

Boris Johnson has told the BBC that Britain should reject any EU demands for a £50bn exit bill and follow the example of former PM Margaret Thatcher. It has been reported that EU negotiator Michel Barnier has said the UK must continue to pay into the EU until 2020.

UK secretary David Davis has urged MPs to back the Brexit bill and insisted the UK would be prepared, if it has to leave the EU with no deal in place. The Brexit secretary urged MPs not to “tie the prime minister's hands” over MPs getting a final vote on the deal and on EU citizens' rights in the UK.

Argentine foreign ministry officials reiterated to representatives from the Malvinas Fallen Relatives Commission and the Confederation of Malvinas Combatants that the initiative to identify Argentine unknown soldiers buried in the Darwin cemetery in the Falklands, is strictly humanitarian.

Spain’s King Felipe VI will pay a State Visit to the United Kingdom in June, Spanish media reported. The visit, which has not been formally confirmed by either the British or Spanish governments, would be the first visit by a Spanish monarch to the UK in over three decades.