The prime minister’s Withdrawal Agreement Act was signed off by the Queen on Thursday after completing its journey through parliament. The process will now be over to Brussels where the European Parliament will look to formalise the agreement in international law.
After countless attempts to get the Act through parliament, multiple delays to the deadline and a general election, which the Conservatives won with a strong majority, the deadlock has finally been settled.
This only marks the first hurdle in a long 11-month stretch for the UK where, on February 1, it will enter a transitional stage of our relationship with the EU. Negotiations will then begin to secure future trading relationships with other countries by the end of 2020.
During the transition period, the countries relationship with the EU will effectively remain the same and will remain in the bloc’s customs union and single market until the end of 2020 with an option to stay within those arrangements for a further 2 years, however the PM has ruled this out saying that he “will not take this option” claiming that there is ample time to reach a comprehensive deal.
If a deal has not been made by the end of the year and the extension is not triggered the UK will face leaving the EU with no deal, this will cause the country major disruption to the economy, with tariffs and quantity restrictions being immediately applied to goods being sold into the EU market.
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