UK Prime Minister Reaches Brexit Deal with EU

Alice Green

6 years ago

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has done the impossible&colon; he has convinced the EU to renegotiate the Brexit agreement after the bloc said it would never renegotiate&period; &NewLine;Now, he just has to get the deal through Parliament&period;&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Now is the moment for us to get Brexit done and then together work on building our future partnership, which I think can be incredibly positive both for the UK and for the EU,” said Johnson&period;&NewLine;The withdrawal agreement was unanimously endorsed by EU leaders and will be voted on by the UK Parliament this Saturday&period; &NewLine;Johnson needs 320 votes to win&period; The Labor Party (224 votes) and DUP (10 votes) have promised to oppose the deal, and we can expect most of the Liberal Democrats to vote against it as well&period; Most Conservatives and former Conservatives (now Independents) will support the deal, but not all&period; &NewLine;Johnson, who promised voters he would achieve Brexit by October 31st, has urged MPs to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;come together&&num;8221&semi; and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;get this excellent deal over the line&period;”&NewLine;If the deal goes through, the UK will pay a divorce bill of &dollar;42&period;4 billion and continue to follow EU rules until the end of 2020&period; If the deal is rejected, Johnson will be forced by law to ask for an extension to the October 31st deadline&period; &NewLine;European Council President Donald Tusk said he would consult member states if asked for an extension&period; &NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;On a more personal note, what I feel today is &&num;8211&semi; frankly speaking &&num;8211&semi; sadness, because in my heart I will always be a Remainer and I hope that if our British friends decide to return one day, our door will always be open,&&num;8221&semi; said Tusk&period;&NewLine;The deal itself is similar to the one agreed to by former Prime Minister Theresa May last year, with the key difference being Northern Ireland&period;&NewLine;The revised deal avoids border checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland by establishing Northern Ireland as the entry point into the EU’s customs zone&period; &NewLine;Northern Ireland will remain a part of the UK’s customs territory but will be aligned with the EU’s single market&period; The UK will not impose tariffs on goods entering Northern Ireland&semi; instead, a joint EU/UK committee will determine which goods are at risk of entering the single market and the EU will collect tariffs on them&period; &NewLine;The Northern Ireland Assembly will vote once every four years on whether to continue the trading arrangement&period;&NewLine;Northern Ireland&&num;8217&semi;s DUP fears the agreement will lead to higher costs and fewer choices for consumers in Northern Ireland and worries the EU will have veto power on which imports to tax &&num;8211&semi; ultimately giving Northern Ireland a weaker position in the UK&period; &NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;These proposals are not, in our view, beneficial to the economic well-being of Northern Ireland and they undermine the integrity of the Union,” said the DUP&period;&NewLine;Johnson hopes the DUP will support his deal if they are forced to choose between it and a no-deal Brexit&period;&NewLine;Author’s Note&colon; It has now been 3 years and 4 months since the British people voted to leave the EU&period; The opposition is doing everything it can to prevent Brexit, but the people have made it clear what they want&period; &NewLine;If Johnson pulls it off, he will be a hero to Democracy&period;&NewLine;Update&colon; The Parliament has voted to delay Brexit once again, dealing a blow to Johnson&period; But it was a close vote, and Boris is still determined to make his October 31st date&period;&NewLine;