Britain’s Brexit deal has been approved by the Commons in one day, after four and a half years of arguing over the nation’s future relationship with the European Union.
After 10 months of gruelling negotiations, UK and Brussels negotiators finally came to an agreement on Christmas Eve, following deadlocks and last minute compromises over fishing rights and measures to avoid unfair competition.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson formally signed the post-Brexit trade deal with the EU at Downing Street this afternoon, describing it as a ‘new beginning’.
Mr Johnson said the deal will allow Britain to be ‘the best friend and ally the EU could have’, heralding the a continuation of tariff-free trade from New Year’s Day when the transition period ends and the ‘sovereign wish’ of the British people to live under their own laws.
With such little time left on the clock, MPs in the Commons frantically rushed to debate and pass the Brexit deal in just one day. The legislation is also expected to make it through the House of Lords today and gain Royal Assent at around midnight.
This would pave the way for the deal to take effect at 11pm on Thursday when the current Brexit transition period – during which the UK has continued to follow EU rules – ends.
The EU (Future Relationship) Bill passed comfortably with 521 votes to 73, with the Conservatives, including hardline Eurosceptics, and most Labour MPs pledging their support, although the SNP, the DUP, Plaid Cymru, the SDLP, Alliance and the Liberal Democrats indicated they wouldn’t back it.
In his closing speech before MPs headed to cast their votes, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said the deal leaves the UK ‘as sovereign equals with the EU’.
He told MPs: ‘Democracy is why we are here. More people in the 2016 referendum voted to leave the European Union than have ever voted for any proposition in our history.
‘And now, four-and-a-half years later, we can say that we have kept faith with the people.
‘This deal takes back control of our laws, our borders and our waters and it also guarantees tariff-free and quota-free access to the European market as well as ensuring our security and is a good deal for aviation, for haulage, for data, for legal services and financial services – and it leaves us as sovereign equals with the EU.’
He concluded: ‘Let us remember the difficulties and the challenges of this year, let us also remember how important it is that we should all now come together, that we should all now recognise that there are no such thing anymore as Remainers or Leavers.
‘What we all are are Britons dedicated to a brighter future, stronger together, sovereign again, dedicated to ensuring a future of sharing, solidarity and excellence.’
While many on both sides of the chamber resolved to back the deal rather than leave with nothing at all, plenty were unhappy that so little time had been given to debate the legislation, which allows Britain to sign and ratify the 1,246-page treaty with Brussels.
Conservative former cabinet minister Damian Green told the Commons: ‘Today is a triumph for the Government, a triumph for the Prime Minister, but not a triumph for Parliament as this degree of scrutiny is clearly pretty laughable.’
Labour former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said she would vote against the ‘shoddy’ legislation, adding: ‘By driving this historic deal through Parliament in one day with no time for proper scrutiny, this Government is trashing democracy’.
She said the deal ‘falls short in many policy areas’, including security, before concluding: ‘I have the greatest respect for the result of the 2016 referendum, but this shoddy deal falls short.
‘It fails the British people, it fails my constituents and I have to meet my responsibilities as a member of the British Parliament and vote against it today.’
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: ‘This deal will make British people poorer and British people less safe. It’s not really a trade deal at all, it’s a loss of trade deal. It’s the first trade deal in history to put up barriers to trade.
‘We were told leaving the EU would cut red tape, but this deal represents the biggest increase in red tape in British history.’
Labour’s Lord Adonis accused the PM of ‘gross abuse’ of the parliamentary process by forcing the deal through in just one day’s sitting.
The former cabinet member called the move ‘unacceptable’ and warned ministers were treating the public ‘with contempt’.
But his motion regretting the speedy handling of the bill was rejected by 323 votes to 125, Government majority 198, in the Lords.
Chief Whip Lord Ashton of Hyde acknowledged that the arrangements were not ‘in keeping with usual practice’ but insisted it would not form a precedent for parliamentary scrutiny of future government legislation.
Lord Adonis said it was unacceptable to consider such an important bill without any committee or report stages, when amendments can usually be tabled.
He said there was no precedent in the history of the Lords for handling a ‘major contested’ piece of legislation in this way, which amounted to a ‘gross abuse of the parliamentary process’.
For the Liberal Democrats, Lord Stoneham of Droxford said Parliament was being treated in a ‘cavalier way’ by the Government.
Labour’s Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town also criticised the ‘inadequate’ means of dealing with the bill but said the UK ultimately has to leave the EU with a deal.
Urging peers to have a ‘degree of realism’, Lady Hayter said there was nothing they could do to alter the treaty, even with a committee and report stage.
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