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UK: MPs overwhelmingly back post-Brexit deal with EUEurope 2020-12-31, by Editor Comments Off 4
MPs have overwhelmingly approved the UK’s post-Brexit trade deal with the EU in a parliamentary vote.
A bill bringing the deal into UK law was backed by the Commons by 521 to 73 votes after Parliament was recalled.
The majority of Labour MPs are thought to have voted for the agreement after leader Sir Keir Starmer said a “thin deal was better than no deal”.
The UK will sever its ties with the EU at 23.00 GMT on Thursday, four and a half years after the Brexit referendum.
Reuters Reuters
1 January, 2021, 4:08 am
Britain s former Prime Minister Theresa May reacts during a debate at the House of Commons in London, Britain December 30, 2020. UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor/Handout via REUTERS
LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – British lawmakers approved Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union on Wednesday, as both sides looked to begin a new chapter of relations just days before their divorce becomes a reality.
Britain and the European Union signed the deal on Wednesday and the British parliament will finalise its implementation, ending over four years of negotiation and safeguarding nearly a $1 trillion of annual trade.
Boris Johnson certainly looked jubilant after signing his Brexit trade deal
Credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images
After a bitter referendum, two general elections, three prime ministers and four and a half years of negotiations, Brexit was finally done on Dec 30 after a trade deal with Brussels was passed in parliament and given royal assent by the Queen.
Amid the Brexit transition period ending at 11 p.m. on Dec 31, we asked Telegraph readers how they were feeling on Brexit Eve. Were they jubilant at the beginning of a “new chapter” for “Global Britain”? Might they be apprehensive about the implications of Boris Johnson s deal? Or are they simply relieved that Brexit has finally been achieved?
Auld lang syne: New Year brings final UK-EU Brexit split after years of drama
Like a separated couple still living together, Britain and the European Union spent 2020 wrangling and wondering whether they can remain friends.
Today, the UK is finally moving out. At 11pm London time â midnight at EU headquarters in Brussels and 10am on Friday in Sydney â Britain will economically and practically leave the 27-nation bloc, 11 months after its formal political departure.
After more than four years of Brexit political drama, the day itself is something of an anticlimax. UK lockdown measures to curb the coronavirus have curtailed mass gatherings to celebrate or mourn the moment, though Parliament s huge Big Ben bell will sound the hour as it prepares to ring in the New Year.