The British parliament has accepted a Brexit deal that will see the UK leave the EU on 31 January. Beyond that, Brexit - even the fate of the word itself - remains a mystery.
Steven Barclay believes the scrapping of his Department for Exiting the EU next year will be “an exciting opportunity”. The British government wants to erase the word ‘Brexit’ from its lexicon after 31 January, according to the Huffington Post, to prove they have been able to “get Brexit done”. But semantics aside, serious concerns remain about the direction the UK’s EU exit will take.
Labour leader (for now) Jeremy Corbyn said his party could not support the withdrawal agreement bill before Parliament today, after commitments on workers’ rights were removed. He said the bill - the legislation needed to make Brexit possible in the UK, the latest version of which was introduced to the House of Commons on Thursday - was being used as a “battering ram" to deregulate the UK and secure a trade accord with the US.
Democratic Unionist (DUP) MPs also hit out at the deal, reiterating fears that it will split Northern Ireland’s economy from the rest of the UK. The prime minister’s answer? He told DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr that a “Boris bridge” between Northern Ireland and Great Britain was “a very interesting idea” and to “watch this space, and indeed... watch that space between those islands”.
With a very large majority, the government did not need Labour or the DUP to get its way. And the withdrawal agreement bill has been altered in key ways from its previous version, which was first tabled and then defeated in October (largely over MPs’ concerns that they were not getting enough time to scrutinise it). The general election last week changed the political landscape dramatically (EUROPE 12390/1). Not only does the latest version of the bill remove commitments on workers’ rights that currently form part of EU law (the government will address them in separate legislation, it says) it also waters down a pledge to take unaccompanied refugee children from Europe, which formed part of the 2018 EU Withdrawal Act (the legal instrument that repealed the 1972 European Communities Act and provided for parliamentary approval for the Brexit deal).
It also bans the government from extending the Brexit transition period beyond the end of 2020. On Friday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson likened a further extension to chaining and torturing the mythical Prometheus, who defied the Greek gods by stealing fire and gifting it to humanity. But a further extension seems inevitable, given that a chunk of the 11-month transition period will need to be given over to ratifying an EU-UK trade deal (if one is struck within that time). Commission president Ursual von der Leyen told MEPs in Strasbourg on Wednesday that the timetable is “extremely challenging” and “leaves us very little time” (EUROPE 12393/2). “In case we cannot conclude an agreement by the end of 2020, we will face again a cliff-edge situation,” she said. "And this would clearly harm our interests.”
The Commission is to table its mandate for trade talks on 1 February. But MEP Pedro Silva Pereira, a parliamentary vice-president and member of the Brexit steering group, told BBC Radio 4 on Friday that the “key issue will be what kind of regulatory dis-alignment we will have”, saying that “some regulatory alignment” must be maintained for there to be a tariff and quota-free deal.
With the passing of the withdrawal agreement bill in the House of Commons, step one of Brexit will be almost complete. The bill is expected to pass through the Commons by mid-January and through the House of Lords later in the month. The European Parliament will complete its ratification process by 29 January (EUROPE 12392/1). (Sarah Collins)