MPs this week overwhelmingly agreed to let the government begin the UK's departure from the EU as they voted for the bill which will trigger Brexit negotiations by the end of March.
The draft legislation was approved by 494 votes to 122, and now moves to the House of Lords for approval
But Shadow business secretary Clive Lewis was one of 52 Labour MPs to defy party orders to back the bill and he resigned from the opposition front bench.
Drug concerns
Patients in the UK could face delays getting new drugs if Britain withdraws from the EU's medicines regulator, ministers were this week warned.
Former UK regulator Sir Alasdair Breckenridge said new cancer drugs could be among those affected.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said he did not expect the UK to remain within the European Medicines Agency (EMA) following Brexit.
Reined in
Britain’s decision to leave the EU also threatens the free movement of horses, potentially dealing a blow to the racing community in the UK and Ireland, industry experts and an MEP have said.
A tripartite agreement between the UK, France and the Republic of Ireland allows thoroughbred horses to travel freely between those countries for races.
Under an EU directive, the horses need only to have an EU passport and be on a livestock database. They do not require a veterinary export health certification or customs documentation.
Such are the concerns about the future of the arrangement that “Brexit’s potential impact on the horse industry” will be the lead subject for discussion at the National Equine Forum in London in March.
Gateway closed
One of Germany’s top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as “gateway to Europe” for the banking sector after Britain quits the trading bloc
Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the Bundesbank - Germany’s central bank—told a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were “equivalent” between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still “miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market”, the BBC reported.
“The current model of using London as a gateway to Europe is likely to end,” Mr Dombret said, according to the BBC.
Minor migration
Theresa May’s attempt to reclaim control of UK borders after Brexit could reduce annual migration from the EU by just 50,000 – one-sixth of the current overall annual figure, according to new research.
The projection of a “vanishingly small reduction” is one of the first attempts to estimate how likely labour market demand, and the government’s planned new controls, could reduce the number of migrants coming to the UK. Reduction in immigrant numbers has been repeatedly cited in polls as the chief reason voters backed leaving the EU.
The report by a new think-tank, Global Future, shows total net immigration, which at the latest official estimate was 335,000 in the year to June 2016, could be expected to fall by no more than 15%, to 285,000 a year.
Apple sweet
US technology giant Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is "very optimistic" about the UK's future post-Brexit, its boss told the UK prime minister this week.
Apple's chief executive Tim Cook met Theresa May at Downing Street and said he thought the UK would be "just fine"' outside the European Union.
The company has said it plans to build a new UK headquarters in London, but Cook’s comments came as the US Chamber of Commerce said US firms had been delaying UK investment decisions due to Brexit worries.