The House of Commons has passed the Brexit trade deal agreed between the UK and the EU by 521 votes to 73 votes.
The bill will now be passed to the House of Lords where the debate is expected to continue until around 10:30 tonight (December 30).
If the deal is passed by the House of Lords, it will then go to the Queen for Royal Assent with an official announcement expected at around midnight.
This would allow the Brexit trade deal to come into effect by 11:00pm on December 31 when the UK officially leaves the EU.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that the passing of the Brexit trade deal will end the “old, desiccated, tired, super-masticated arguments which have dogged the country for years and enable it to move forwards to a new and great future”.
It embodies our vision shared with our European neighbours of a new relationship between Britain and the EU as sovereign equals joined by friendship, commerce, history interests and values while respecting one another’s freedom of action.
“We are going to open a new chapter in our national story, striking free trade deals around the world and reasserting global Britain as a liberal, outward-looking force for good.”
The Labour party leader Sir Kier Starmer said that despite the agreement being best described as ‘thin’, that “there’s only one choice today, which is to vote for implementing this deal or to vote for no-deal”.
“Those that vote ‘no’ are voting for no-deal,” he said.
This is the nub of it: those voting ‘no’ today want ‘yes’. They want others to save them from their own vote.
“Voting ‘no’, wanting ‘yes’; that’s the truth of the situation and that’s why my party has taken a different path.”
