1st LD: British PM wins landslide final battle in House of Commons to trigger EU exit

The parliamentary bill empowering the British government to begin the formal process of leaving the European Union completed its passage Wednesday night in the House of Commons.

Prime Minister Theresa May's government succeeded in crossing the final crucial hurdle with 494 votes to 122.

May sat in the chamber alongside her Brexit ministers as the historic result was announced by deputy speaker Lindsay Hoyle.

It now goes to the unelected House of Lords for further scrutiny before being sent to Queen Elizabeth for royal assent.

Scottish Nationalist MP Alex Salmond criticized the process and accused the government of railroading the legislation through parliament in a "disgraceful fashion".

He said this was the first time a bill of great constitutional importance had been passed in this day since the Defense of the Realm Bill prior to the World War I in 1914.

Having won Wednesday night in the Commons, where a string of amendments were defeated, it almost guarantees that May will be on course to tell Brussels within weeks to start the EU exit process.

May's government only introduced the briefly worded bill into parliament last week, determined to see it fast-tracked through the parliamentary process.

It has meant members of parliament sitting until midnight on some occasions to complete a series of debates.

Attempts by the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) to ensure the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh could have a vote on Brexit, as well as a call by the minority Liberal Democrats for a second national referendum, each failed, as did a string of proposed amendments by the main opposition Labor party.

In the final vote, the result indicated that some Labor MPs had defied an instruction from their leader Jeremy Corbyn to vote in favor of the Article 50 bill.

A number of his shadow cabinet members have already resigned, and more may quit as a result of the vote. Endit