UK Lawmakers Back Johnson's Withdrawal Bill

MPs vote 358 to 234 to clear UK PM’s Brexit divorce deal

Britain's freshly-elected parliament prepared on Friday to move past years of partisan wrangling and approved Prime Minister Boris Johnson's divorce deal with the EU. The all-but-certain outcome in the lower House of Commons will help Johnson on his way towards meeting his winning campaign promise to get Brexit done on January 31. But it will also push London and Brussels closer to another cliff edge at the end of 2020 that might disrupt decades of unfettered trade. A snap election last week put Johnson's Conservatives in control of parliament and dispelled doubts over whether Britain would become the first nation to leave the EU.

A final vote on Johnson's separation terms will come when lawmakers return from their Christmas break early next month. But Britain will enter the holiday season closer to legal and economic independence from Brussels than it has been at any point since the 2016 Brexit referendum on UK’s near half-century EU membership.