Britain’s newly elected Parliament voted Friday to initially approve Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal
The vote is the first step toward Johnson fulfilling his promise that Britain will split from the European Union on Jan. 31.
The measure easily passed, 358-234, after Johnson’s Conservatives won an 80-seat majority in the 650-seat House of Commons in last week’s general election.
“Brexit will be done, it will be over,” Johnson said ahead of the vote, referring to the Jan. 31 deadline. “The sorry story of the last 3½ years will be at an end and we will be able to move forward together.”
Britain narrowly voted to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum — but Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, struggled to pass a Brexit deal through Parliament, with lawmakers objecting to portions of the agreement.
With the passage of Johnson’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill, Britain will leave the EU at the end of January and conclude trade talks with the 28-nation bloc by the end of 2020 — a deadline that both trade experts and EU officials say will be a struggle.
Economists fear a “no-deal” Brexit at the start of 2021 would disrupt trade with the EU — Britain’s biggest trading partner — and sink the UK into recession.
On Friday, Johnson said he was confident of forging a “deep, special and democratically accountable partnership with those nations we are proud to call our closest friends” by the Brexit deadline.
The bill also includes an amendment that bars lawmakers from agreeing to extend the transition period with the EU.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who lost to Johnson in the prime minister race, said his 203 lawmakers would oppose the Brexit bill because of “the reckless direction in which the government and the prime minister are determined to take our country.”
“There is a better and fairer way for this country to leave the European Union,” Corbyn said.
The Brexit deal needs to be ratified by the European Parliament. European Parliament vice president Pedro Silva Pereira said officials expect that to happen by Jan. 29.
Source: New York Post
Vanguard News