Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, for what reasons the Government plans to activate Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union by the end of March 2017.

There was a good reason why the Government said immediately after the referendum that it should not invoke Article 50 before the end of this year. This has given us the time to develop our negotiating strategy and avoid setting the clock ticking until our objectives are clear and agreed. As the Prime Minister has made clear, Article 50 will be triggered no later than the end of March next year.