house of commons voting in favor of
Boris Johnson
The House of Commons sir has voted
overwhelmingly in favor of Prime
Minister Boris Johnson's brexit do
finally paving the way for the United
Kingdom to leave the European Union
later this month and after more than
four decades of membership a deal has
cleared its a biggest hurdle with the
vote that followed a third reading of
Parliament 330 voted for and 231 against
putting an end to three years of
political wrangling following the 2016
brexit referendum our UK correspondent
Lucy ho joins us and now a very good
evening to you Lucy certainly from South
Africa does this mean that brexit is now
unstoppable I think it's safe to say
that its path is pretty clear now I'm in
the contrast with this vote in the House
of Commons today on Thursday just
demonstrates quite a contrast with where
we were this time last year to resume
who was paralyzed her brexit billed
repeatedly voted down in the House of
Commons of course leading eventually to
her resignation Boris Johnson then took
over as leader at campaigning in the
most recent general election on that
clear message get brexit done and we
knew that this is a process that he
really wanted to expediate
the fact that the bill is already in its
third reading in terms of UK
parliamentary processes is
extraordinarily quick this is the final
stage of the bill in the House of
Commons it now goes to the House of
Lords where peers will make any
amendments but they have been urged by
MPs to not do anything that might derail
the legislation and if all goes to plan
in the Lord's the bill will become law
by the end of the month just three days
before our scheduled departure date
which of course is January the 31st and
at that point the bill then comes here
to Brussels for EU leaders to ratify
that legislation and it's then that the
formal trade negotiations can begin so
we really are at the start of the
process but this is a hugely significant
milestone and I wanted Boris Johnson
see I like to talk about that
significance you mentioned it earlier on
hard differences different as Boris
Johnson's plan from that of his
predecessor to his MA but not all that
different I think care was the course of
analysis I mean it's it's hard we use
this term hard or soft brexit it does
diverge further where it creates a more
distant economic relationship well that
seems to be the outline planned in that
in the legislation but really that the
key change was to the Northern Irish
backstop of course the mechanism in
Therese as Anna Mae's deal that caused
such problems for her when she tried to
get that bill through the House of
Commons Euroskeptic MPs and people who
wanted us to leave a clean break black
brexit said that it would make us have
to close an economic relationship with
the European Union
moving forward what Boris Johnson deals
does is it keeps just Northern Ireland
in the EU customs union but there is
some fears for the impact on Northern
Irish businesses that the Boris
Johnson's backstop solution might now
provide so there are still some issues
and and we have heard from lots of MPs
in the comments today their concerns
about Boris Johnson's bill particularly
issues like the environment and on
citizens rights but it has passed with
it with a huge majority of 99 a historic
victory for Boris Johnson who has this
very clear mandate after his landslide
victory in the last election and well
we'll take a look at what will it take
to hammer out this deal interesting
moment but I want to find out what the
reaction has been just looking at an
earlier statement by made by Hungary's
far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban he
seems to endorse the deal but some of
the things that he has said some people
have believed are alarmist and and
didn't quite agree with what has been
the European reaction to the
developments in the UK well I think the
EU is as Britain is keen for an end to
the paralysis you know I've been in the
European Parliament today speaking to
British and your
MVP's who say they felt completely
paralyzed by this process you know at
British mu peace you've been waiting for
months to know whether there might be a
second referendum you know they've been
huge for businesses on either side
there's been a huge amount of
uncertainty so I think there is cautious
optimism from EU leaders that this might
now kickstart the next stage of the
process that there's now no further
possibility of a second referendum that
either side know where they are now and
that means that both sides can start the
next stage of the process which is of
course at trying to thrash out a trade
deal with in just the eleven month
period but that in and of itself is is
an immensely complex process that I
think both sides are going into with
some trepidation certainly Boris Johnson
sees that he will be able to achieve a
comprehensive free trade arrangement but
here in Brussels there is caution they
think that the time frame is much too
short that they instead are going to
have to work sector by sector on a
slimmed-down deal to prioritize at Boris
Johnson says that he wants to diverge in
key sectors particularly financial
services there was a clear message from
the EU president yesterday Ursula von
der Leyen when she was on a visit to
London that close regulatory alignment
was necessary and should the UK start to
take steps further away in regulatory
terms that will cause problems and will
lead to a less close economic
partnership so we are certainly looking
at tricky times ahead lots of difficult
questions to be asked and of course just
the beginning of what will be a very
long and complicated process and Lucia
as you say the Hungarian Prime
Minister's saying that it all depends
from the prism with which both sides
look at this deal one in European
leaders that they don't necessarily have
the upper hand that is also within their
interest that the UK gets what it wants
so some observers believe that it's
about to get Messier is that consensus
on this this second phase of
negotiations
I think the mood music broadly will
certainly when Boris Johnson won his
majority there was relief from EU
leaders that at last we had a decisive
option of course he you leaders don't
want to see the Britain leave the
European Union there is a there's no two
ways around that they ideally would like
the UK to change its mind but within
this deal within the withdrawal
agreement bill there are it does address
key issues as we were saying the
Northern Irish Protocol which resolved
the issue of the Northern Irish backstop
but also the issue of citizens rights
and I think that is a key issue which
we'll need to watch over the coming
months certainly the EU Council
President shall Michel was talking of
his concern as ed said that that would
become an issue of Michel Barnier also
there that he used chief negotiator was
saying that this is really something to
watch he is concerned about the rights
of EU citizens living and working in
Britain of course this this bill
technically guarantees their rights but
Michel Barnier was saying we really need
to make sure that there is a watchdog in
place that those rights are being
monitored that there's a way for you
citizens to complain should they have
need to there is some concern that
perhaps some of what is in this
withdrawal withdrawal agreement bill
will need to be monitored in the coming
months
I want to ask this question about the
blue economy Lucey Croatia for instance
raising the issue of fishing rights a
warning that failure to reach agreement
or consensus could lead to the cod Wars
which were in the 1970s it is there a
lot of wrangling over rights certainly
with regards to fishing yes that is a
key issue as one of the key campaign
messages of the leave campaign at the
time of the EU referendum it was one of
the key messages that UK fishermen had
long been had there you know had been
just at a disadvantage because of the
Common Fisheries Policy that issue has
been separated and we know that Ursula
von der Leyen has said it's one of the
two issues that will be the two sectors
that will be looked at first during the
trade negotiation
that and free track tariffs trade that
was a clear message from Ursula von der
Leyen yesterday but yes there was a talk
there is clearly concern from the
European Union that they might be locked
out of fishing in UK waters which would
have huge economic consequences for them
so there is real concern about that
issue it is something that is going to
be looked at in a lot of detail in the
coming weeks but there is a lot to do
they're going to be doing a
sector-by-sector piecemeal process
that's what we're hearing from EU
officials at the moment but certainly
fishing and free tire of trade are the
two central issues to be looked at first
they will then be looking at security
and foreign policy but I think there is
concern from all sides about the limited
time frame to look at these really
important issues that as you say affect
a number of other EU countries as well I
thank you very much sir lucy her our UK
correspondent speaking to us from
brussels or on the latest on that a
house of commons voting in favor of
Boris Johnson sir bricks
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