19:57, 14 March 2017 | GMT +6

UK House of Lords approves Brexit bill

LONDON. KAZINFORM The upper chamber of the UK Parliament, the House of Lords, on Monday gave the green light to the Brexit bill that will now allow the government of the conservative Prime Minister to initiate the process of pulling the country out of the European Union, Kazinform has learnt from EFE.

The members of the House of Lords - who are not elected by the public - agreed to back the law without the amendments that had been introduced some days ago to protect the rights of Britons living in continental Europe and authorize Parliament to be able to veto Brexit, both of which had been rejected Monday afternoon in the House of Commons.

The Lords had sought to amend the bill by including a promise that EU citizens residing in Britain would be allowed to remain there, but that was rejected by a vote of 274-135.

The spokesperson for the opposition Labor Party in the House of Lords, Dianne Hayter, said that her party refused to prolong the process for approving the law once the conservative majority in the House of Commons had made it clear that the government was not going to allow itself to be backed into a corner.

Hayter, however, sent the message to people "affected" by Brexit that the Labor Party would not "surrender" when it comes to defending their rights.

The brief text of the law, just 137 words long, is now ready for Queen Elizabeth's signature just a month-and-a-half after it arrived in Parliament on Jan. 26.