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Johnson praised the completion of the deal in less than a year (France Press)
The British House of Commons voted today, Wednesday, to approve the post-Brexit trade agreement signed by the government with the European Union, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised, in his speech to MPs today, the astonishing speed with which the agreement was reached.
Johnson said the deal illustrates what Britain could be European and sovereign.
After the House of Commons vote, the bill will go to the House of Lords, which is also expected to endorse it, before gaining actual approval.
The agreement will go into effect on January 1, after the Brexit transition period ends on December 31.
The Prime Minister told the House of Commons that it took about eight years for the Uruguay Round to reach an agreement on global trade, while the trade agreement between the European Union and Canada took five years, and six years to reach an agreement. an agreement with Japan.
He added: “We have accomplished it in less than a year, in light of a pandemic, and we have moved forward with this mission, and we have resisted any call to postpone it, because securing our future provides us with the best opportunity to overcome Covid and moving forward stronger in the coming year. “
Representatives have been summoned to the House of Commons today, since the Christmas holidays, to scrutinize the 1,246-page agreement in one day.
A group of Brexit supporters, the European Research Group, declared their support for the deal, saying it would legally preserve UK sovereignty.
The opposition Labor Party previously said it would vote in favor of the deal. Although all other opposition parties, including the Scottish National Party, the Liberal Democrats and all Northern Irish parties that have Westminster seats, have said they will vote against the deal.
On the contrary, the leaders of the fishing industry said they feel “betrayed” by the agreement and that many companies will be hurt.
The Brexit deal is known to have been agreed days before the deadline, which means that the UK and the European Union can continue to trade without imposing additional taxes on goods.
The UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016 and already left in January 2020, but trade talks stalled and lasted until the end of 2020 until a deal was reached.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, signed the international treaty to ratify the agreement this Wednesday morning in Brussels, the agreement being transported to London on an RAF plane to signed by the British Prime Minister.
Although the European Parliament has begun examining the agreement, it will not be able to ratify it until after midnight on Thursday, when the UK leaves the EU single market and customs union. Knowing that the agreement was unanimously endorsed by the ambassadors of the 27 countries, and the member states gave their approval in writing on Tuesday.
The deal comes as the UK government announced an agreement allowing British companies to continue trading with Turkey on the same terms, after Britain’s exit from the European Union.
Supporting the duty-free deal is a business relationship, which the British government said was valued at £ 18.6 billion last year.
Since the UK decided to leave the European Union, it has concluded dozens of trade agreements with countries around the world. But the vast majority of the 63 trade deals signed by the UK in the past two years have kept the same terms as they had before Brexit.
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