British MPs approve first stage of Brexit Bill

British MPs approved on Wednesday the first stage of Bill empowering Prime Minister Theresa May to take Britain out of the European Union.

May's government is seeking approval for a new law giving her the right to trigger Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty - the legal process for leaving the bloc - after the Supreme Court ruled she could not take that decision unilaterally.

The Bill could complete the legislative process by 7 March.

It was the first Brexit-related vote in the House of Commons, coming after more than 17 hours of debate, with a second and final vote in the lower house set for next week.

Lawmakers voted by 498 to 114 in favour of allowing the Bill to progress to the next, more detailed legislative stage. Earlier they rejected an attempt to throw out the Bill, proposed by pro-EU Scottish nationalists.

The opposition Labour party ordered MPs not block the Bill, but 47 rebelled against leader Jeremy Corbyn. He is yet to announce how he will respond to frontbenchers and other lawmakers who refused to tow the party line.

MPs on Wednesday also voted on a Scottish National Party (SNP) amendment seeking to derail the Brexit Bill, defeating it by 336 votes to 100.

An SNP spokesman Stephen Gethins described the vote in a statement as "a devastating act of sabotage on Scotland's economy".

A majority of voters in Scotland and Northern Ireland in last summer's referendum backed remaining in the EU, while voters in England and Wales supported Brexit.

May is under intense pressure to push the Bill through quickly, having promised EU leaders she would trigger Article 50 by the end of March.

She told MPs she would publish a long-awaited Brexit strategy paper on Thursday, opening it to parliamentary scrutiny while the Article 50 legislation makes its way through parliament.