PM May starts UK tour

LONDON: Prime Minister Theresa May will visit Wales on Monday as part of a plan to engage with all the nations of the United Kingdom before she formally launches Britain´s departure from the European Union.

May is due to trigger Article 50 of the EU´s Lisbon Treaty, beginning two years of formal divorce talks, by the end of this month, and her office said she would be visiting Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to hear people´s views.

Last year´s Brexit referendum exposed splits that could threaten the unity of the UK, with Scotland and Northern Ireland delivering pro-EU majorities but finding themselves outvoted by the English and Welsh, who were in favour of leaving the bloc.  In a sharp challenge to May, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said last week she would be pushing for a fresh independence vote after having been met by "a brick wall of intransigence" in London when seeking for Scotland to have its own Brexit deal.