Sources: China Post (10/03/2016), CNN (10/02/2016)
British Prime Minister Theresa May said Sunday that Britain would start the formal process for leaving the European Union by the end of March 2017. That means Brexit could happen in 2019.
Before now May has only said that Britain would not trigger Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty - which sets a maximum two-year clock ticking until a country's departure from the 28-member bloc - before the end of this year.
"I've been saying that we wouldn't trigger before the end of this year so that we get the preparation in place," she told BBC television during an interview. "We will trigger before the end of March next year."
She said that once Article 50 had been triggered, it would be up to the rest of the EU to decide how the negotiation process goes ahead.
Britain will carry on taking part in other EU business as normal, but it won't participate in internal EU discussions or decisions about its own withdrawal.
May also said she would ask lawmakers to pass a bill incorporating all EU laws into British laws that would take effect the moment Britain leaves the EU. That legislation would mean the U.K. can decide which European laws to keep.