Brexit defeat for UK government

Britain's House of Lords is making another attempt to win Parliament a greater say over the country's departure from the European Union.

Parliament's unelected upper chamber amended the government's flagship Brexit bill on Monday so MPs' approval is needed before the government agrees to a final divorce deal.

But pro-EU legislators want to be able to send the government back to the negotiating table if they don't like the deal.

The new Lords amendment will go back to the Commons on Wednesday for another vote.

Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019, and the bloc is frustrated with what it sees as a lack of firm proposals from the UK about future relations.

A paper laying out the UK government position, due to be published this month, has been delayed because the Cabinet cannot agree on a united stance.

Ivan Rogers, Britain's former ambassador to the EU, told a committee of lawmakers last week that achieving Brexit would "take years" and be "bloody difficult."

"You should view leaving the European Union as a process," not an event, he said.