Today’s debate and subsequent vote will kickstart the process of the UK’s exit from the European Union. If, as expected, the bill passes there are a number of things remaining to tick off the checklist before Brexit gets done.
Key dates to watch to ‘get Brexit done’
The Prime Minister’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) was presented to the House of Commons yesterday evening, just hours after the Queen’s Speech.
Today marks the first time the Brexit bill will be debated and voted on since the Conservatives’ landslide election victory.
Now boasting an 80-seat majority in the House, the Tories expect the bill to sail through as all 365 Conservative MPs have promised to back it.
Should the bill pass as expected it will move to the committee stages.
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Members of Parliament will then break for the festive period.
On January 6, 2020, they will return after the Christmas recess.
They will need to be suitably refreshed because MPs will then be debating the Brexit bill in the House of Commons for the entire week.
By Thursday, January 9, the bill is expected to be passed to the House of Lords for further scrutiny.
Should changes to the bill be proposed by the upper house, MPs will debate these from Monday, January 27.
If all goes to plan for the Prime Minister, the Brexit bill will receive Royal Assent that week.
Royal Assent means the Withdrawal Agreement Bill becomes an Act of Parliament and so can become law.
The UK would then legally leave the European Union on January 31, with Boris Johnson fulfilling his election promise to ‘get Brexit done’.
Withdrawal Agreement Bill changes
The House of Commons had backed the previous bill in October, however, it was withdrawn after MPs turned down a three-day deadline to pass it.
Since then, changes have been made to the bill which includes allowing more UK courts to reassess European Court of Justice rulings retained in UK law post-Brexit, as well as repealing spent legislation that “now serves no purpose”.
The agreement now stipulates that ministers should report disputes with the EU annually to Parliament.
A previous clause strengthening workers’ rights has also been removed though the Government says it will honour that in separate legislation.
