A bill that would force British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to seek a delay to the Oct. 31 Brexit deadline if no deal is reached has become law with approval by Queen Elizabeth II.
The royal approval was announced Monday by Norman Fowler, the speaker of the House of Lords.
The queen's approval was seen as a formality after the bill was approved by Parliament. It is opposed by the government.
It is designed to prevent Johnson from taking Britain out of the European Union without an agreement with the other 27 nations in the bloc.
Johnson has said he will not seek a delay to the deadline.
Meanwhile, U.K. House of Commons Speaker John Bercow says he will step down by the end of next month after a decade in the job.
Bercow told lawmakers that if Parliament votes Monday in favor of an early election, he will quit before the campaign. If they don't he will quit Oct. 31 - the day Britain is due to leave the European Union.Â
He says he will quit both as speaker and as a member of Parliament.
Bercow has angered the Conservative government by repeatedly allowing lawmakers to seize control of Parliament's agenda to steer the course of Brexit. He says he is simply fulfilling his role of letting Parliament have its say.
The Conservatives had said they would run against Bercow in the next national election, breaking a convention that the speaker be elected unopposed.
Earlier, Britain's House of Lords approved a bill designed to prevent the country leaving the European Union next month without a divorce agreement.
Parliament's unelected upper chamber voted Friday for the bill, which has already been passed by the elected House of Commons.
It will become law within days once it gets the formality of royal assent.
The law, backed by opposition lawmakers and Conservative rebels, compels Johnson to ask the EU to postpone Brexit if no divorce agreement is in place by Oct. 19.
Johnson says the U.K. must leave the bloc on the currently scheduled date of Oct. 31, even if there is no deal.
The #HouseofLords third reading of #EUWithdrawal6Bill has now ended. As both Houses of @UKParliament have agreed the final text, the bill now proceeds to royal assent.
— House of Lords (@UKHouseofLords) September 6, 2019
Last week Johnson failed to win sufficient parliamentary support for an early national election on Oct. 15.
The vote was 298 in favor and 56 opposed, not enough to force the election because a large number of lawmakers abstained, meaning he failed to reach the required threshold.
Under U.K. law, Johnson needed the support of two-thirds of the 650 legislators in the House of Commons, which equates to 434.
The bulk of the main opposition Labour Party opted to abstain as it wants to be assured that legislation preventing a no-deal Brexit is in place before an election is called.
(Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
