20th December, 2019
The British prime minister, Boris Johnson promised to “get the Brexit vote wrapped up for Christmas” after his landslide election victory.
The parliament is set to vote on Boris’s Brexit deal on Friday, after suffering several defeats in the previous parliament, Johnson now enjoys a large majority and should face little opposition in passing the bill to implement Britain’s biggest foreign and trade policy shift in more than 40 years.
More than three years since Britain voted to exit the European Union in a 2016 referendum, the deep uncertainty over Brexit has now been replaced by the firm deadline of Jan. 31.
“Today we will deliver on the promise we made to the people and get the Brexit vote wrapped up for Christmas,” Johnson said before the vote, expected to take place at about 1430 GMT.
“Then, at the beginning of the new decade, at the beginning of a new dawn for our country, our parliamentarians will return to Westminster to immediately finish the job, take us out of the EU on the 31st January and move this country forward.”
The final stages of ratification will take place after Christmas, with the lower house of parliament having until Jan. 9 to approve the legislation, giving it just over three weeks to then pass through the upper house and receive Royal Assent.