Lords urged to back Brexit bill after MPs vote

Legislation empowering Prime Minister Theresa May to start Brexit negotiations moves to Britain's House of Lords on Thursday -- with ministers urging peers to do their "patriotic duty" and back it. MPs in parliament's lower chamber, the House of Commons, overwhelmingly backed the bill late Wednesday to allow May to trigger Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, which she has promised to do by the end of March. Downing Street played down a warning by an unnamed government source that the unelected second chamber could face abolition if it stands in the way of Britain's exit from the European Union.