Prime Minister Theresa May has said she does not want to see anyone holding up "what the British people want", as the Brexit Bill goes before the House of Lords.

Mrs May spoke on the debate as she visited the Emma Bridgewater factory in Stoke-on-Trent on Monday to campaign ahead of Thursday's by-election.

Asked whether the House of Lords vote on the Bill to trigger Britain's withdrawal might delay the process, she said: "When the Bill to allow the Government to trigger Article 50 to start the Brexit process went through the House of Commons it went through with good majorities.

"It was not amended.

"I hope that the House of Lords will pay attention to that.

"Properly there will be debate and scrutiny in the House of Lords, but I don't want to see anybody holding up up what the British people want, what the people of Stoke-on-Trent voted for last year, which is for us to deliver Brexit, to leave the European Union."

Around 190 peers are expected to speak during the two days set aside for the European Union (Notification Of Withdrawal) Bill's second reading debate in the Lords, the first time the upper chamber will debate the legislation.

Mrs May spoke as she visited the pottery factory with Jack Brereton, Conservative candidate for the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election.

Labour's leader in the Lords, Baroness Smith of Basildon, confirmed they would seek to amend the legislation but said there would be no extended parliamentary "ping pong" with the changes batting back and forth between the upper and lower chambers.

In particular, she said that peers would be looking to get concessions offered by the Government during its passage through the Commons, promising MPs a "meaningful" vote before the end of the Brexit negotiations, written into the Bill.

"If there is this ongoing parliamentary engagement, all of us can get involved in this. Waiting for two years' time is the wrong thing," she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

"It can't be we say to Theresa May 'Bye bye, off you go come back in two years with a deal', that's not good enough.

"All the House of Lords can do is ask the Commons to look at an issue again. I don't see any extended ping pong on this at all."

The main parliamentary battle is not expected to take place until next week when peers will have a chance to vote on the amendments that have been tabled during the Bill's committee stage.

Downing Street acknowledged the Lords had an "important constitutional role" scrutinising the legislation but said Mrs May remained confident it would be passed in time for her to invoke Article 50 by her deadline of March 31.

"What the Lords do is a matter for the Lords. We have been clear in our view that this is a short Bill designed to enact the will of the British people to start the process by which we exit the EU," a No 10 spokesman said.

"It passed through the Commons unamended after what was a robust and healthy debate among MPs and I anticipate that you will see a similar debate in the Lords."