UK PM promises to wrap up Brexit for Christmas

UK lawmakers are heading to parliament to debate and vote for the Brexit Withdrawal Bill on Friday. The bill looks set to be passed after Boris Johnson's Conservative party won a majority in last week's general election.

Prime minister Boris Johnson hopes to get Brexit  "wrapped up" for Christmas as British lawmakers debate and vote on the Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Withdrawal Agreement Bill on Friday.

The second reading of the bill in Parliament would see the UK legally bound to a January 31 leave date and to negotiate an agreement on future relations with the EU by the end of 2020 in a so-called "transition period."

"Today we will deliver on the promise we made to the people and get the Brexit vote wrapped up for Christmas," Johnson said ahead of the vote, which comes just a day after Parliament officially reopened.

"The sorry story of the last three years will be at an end and we can move forward," Johnson added, during his parliamentary address on Friday morning.

The bill is expected to pass after last week's general election saw the Conservative party win an 80-seat majority — the bill was previously backed by the lower house in October but then withdrawn after lawmakers rejected a three-day deadline for getting the bill through parliament.

The leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, said the Labour Party would not support the bill, saying there was a better and "fairer way" for the country to leave the EU.

What happens if the bill wins a majority on Friday?

If the bill passes Friday's vote then lawmakers will have another three days to discuss it further from January 7.

If it is ratified it will be passed on to the UK's upper house, the House of Lords, to make a final decision on whether the bill passes into law. By convention, the Lords does not usually block policies that were in a government's election policy program.

The bill is similar to what was agreed by Johnson and the EU Commission in October, but with a few amendments, it also strips out a clause on strengthening workers' rights after Brexit.

Johnson said the bill would provide "certainty" and allow businesses and individuals to plan for the future but opponents think that it could increase uncertainty with not enough time to finalize trade-deal intricacies.

kmm/ng (Reuters/AFP)