UK lawmakers set to vote on Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged lawmakers on Friday to back his Brexit bill to end the “acrimony and anguish” that has consumed the country since it voted in 2016 to leave the European Union.

Johnson’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill is all but certain to be approved in principle later Friday by the country’s new Conservative-dominated House of Commons.

It will be a moment of triumph for Johnson, who won a commanding parliamentary majority in last week’s general election on a promise to end more than three years of political gridlock and lead Britain out of the European Union on January 31.

The UK’s departure will open a new phase of Brexit, as Britain and the EU race to strike new relationships for trade, security and host of other areas by the end of 2020.

Johnson, however, painted Friday’s vote as a moment of closure.

Opening debate on the bill he said, optimistically, that after January 31, “Brexit will be done, it will be over.”

“The sorry story of the last 3 1/2 years will be at an end and we will be able to move forward together,” he said.

“This is a time when we move on and discard the old labels of ‘leave’ and ‘remain,’” Johnson added. “Now is the time to act together as one reinvigorated nation.”

Britain voted narrowly to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum. But previous attempts by Johnson and his predecessor, Theresa May, to pass a Brexit deal through the UK.

Parliament foundered as lawmakers objected to sections of the agreement and demanded a bigger say in the process.

Johnson’s election victory finally gives him the power to get his way.

“The election has produced a result: We will leave the EU at the end of January,” acknowledged pro-EU Liberal Democrat legislator Wera Hobhouse. “The battle to stop Brexit is over.”

The bill commits Britain to leaving the EU on January 31 and to concluding trade talks with the bloc by the end of 2020. 

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