BBCNEWS Newsnight February 1, 2017
Then a Leave Minister said they had waited their life to do it. Theresa may wants to get on and trigger article 50 well before her self imposed deadline of the end of march. The possible date is the ninth or 10th of march. It has to be a formal letter from the uk. The reason why they want to get an early if they have been advised the European Commission and the European Council will be able to give their formal response before the first round of the president ial election on the 23rd of april, but only if they go early. Obviously, if they do not go early, the second round of the french preside...
Source: archive.org