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Boris Johnson will claim that the Brexit trade deal agreed on Christmas Eve represents “not a break, but a resolution” of UK-European relations as it urges MPs to back legislation that will make it law.
The government intends to pass the EU Future Relations Bill in parliament at breakneck speed on Wednesday, completing all stages of the process in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords in a single day.
That schedule has been criticized by some MPs, who argue that legislation of such importance should be subject to much greater parliamentary scrutiny.
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What does the Brexit trade deal include?
Opening the debate, the prime minister is expected to say: “Those of us who campaigned for Britain to leave the EU never sought a break with our closest neighbors.
“We would never want to be separated from other democracies under whose soil lie British war graves in quiet graveyards, often staffed by local schoolchildren, testimony to our shared struggle for freedom and all that we hold dear in common.
“What we were looking for was not a break but a resolution, a resolution of the old and controversial question of Britain’s political relations with Europe, which haunted our post-war history.
“First we stayed on the sidelines, then we became half-EU members, sometimes obstructive.
“Now, with this bill, we will be a friendly neighbor, the best friend and ally the EU could have, working hand in hand as long as our values and interests coincide while fulfilling the sovereign desire of the British people to live on their own. Will Laws, drawn up by its own elected Parliament.
“That is the historic resolution delivered by this bill.”
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Prime Minister praises free trade agreement with EU
The Commons are expected to spend five hours debating the 80-page bill, then the House of Lords will debate late into the night.
If Parliament passes the bill, the trade agreement between the UK and the EU will take effect after 11pm on Thursday night.
It comes after the once rebellious Brexiteer wing of the Conservative Party indicated that it would back the government.
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‘Leaving is such a sweet pain’ – UE
A legal opinion issued by the “star chamber” of lawyers of the European Research Group concluded that “the Agreement preserves the sovereignty of the United Kingdom as a matter of law and fully respects the rules of international treaties sovereign to sovereign”.
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen told Sky News “to a man and a woman that the ERG will support the deal.”
“The prime minister could have capitulated and reached an agreement weeks ago, but he stood firm, and in the end it was the EU that moved in and gave us an FTA that respected our sovereignty and did not cross any of the red lines.” he added.
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The UK’s journey towards a Brexit trade deal
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer has also instructed his MPs to vote in favor of the deal, arguing that the alternative would be a no-deal. Brexi, although several are expected to vote against.
The unions also plan to seek amendments to the bill that would require the government to provide economic impact assessments of the business relationship twice a year.
Sir Keir is under pressure from senior backbenchers, including former shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, Clive Lewis and Ben Bradshaw, who have asked him to reconsider his position and oppose the bill.
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Barnier: ‘Nothing to celebrate about divorce’
But with little chance of a substantial Conservative rebellion, and with Labor support unlikely to change, the bill will almost certainly become law.
However, the DUP, which supports Brexit in principle, has said it will not vote in favor of the trade deal due to concerns that Northern Ireland remains more closely linked to the EU than the rest of the UK.
The party’s Brexit spokesman, Sammy Wilson, told Sky News that the speed at which the government was trying to pass the legislation meant that scrutiny would be insufficient.
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“My fear is that we will rush it and regret at will for some of the things that we discover later that are not fulfilled.”
The Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats have also indicated that they will vote against the legislation.
While the debate takes place in Westminster, the agreement itself will be signed in Brussels by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, before being transferred to London for the Prime Minister. add your signature.
