Wakefield MP Mary Creagh votes against Brexit bill but article 50 could be triggered within weeks after parliament passes it through

Prime Minister Theresa May wants to trigger Article 50 by the end of March, so that official negotiations with the EU can begin.

And she is on track to do so after MPs backed the Brexit legislation by 494 to 122 in a historic vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Wakefield MP Mary Creagh voted against the bill.

She told The Express she felt it would “make people in Wakefield poorer and destroy jobs and business” after also going against it in an earlier vote last week.

But she has faced backlash from many of her constituents, after 66.3 per cent of the Wakefield Council district voted in favour of Brexit in the EU Referendum last June.

And more than 40 people have signed a petition calling for her to resign.

This week’s final debate on the legislation in Parliament saw more than a dozen amendments rejected, including an attempt to guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in the UK.

The bill will now progress to being debated in the House of Lords.