LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May is throwing the full weight of government behind her goal of winning the best Brexit deal for Britain but will not trigger the formal divorce procedure before the end of the year, her spokesman said on Monday.
Asked about weekend media reports which suggested that May would delay invoking Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon treaty to trigger the formal exit procedure until later next year, her spokesman told reporters:
"The PM is providing the kind of leadership you would expect to confront this serious and very complex task and the full weight of the machinery of government has been put behind it.
"Article 50 notification won't happen before the end of 2016," the spokesman added.