With just a day to spare, lawmakers in the House of Commons vote 521-73 in favor of the agreement sealed between the U.K. government and the European Union last week.<\/b>
\nLONDON \u2014 Britain\u2019s Parliament voted resoundingly on Wednesday to approve a trade deal with the European Union, paving the way for an orderly break with the bloc that will finally complete the U.K.\u2019s long and divisive Brexit journey. With just a day to spare, lawmakers in the House of Commons voted 521-73 in favor of the agreement sealed between the U.K. government and the EU last week. Brexit enthusiasts in Parliament praised it as a reclamation of independence from the bloc. Pro-Europeans lamented its failure to preserve seamless trade with Britain\u2019s biggest economic partner. But the vast majority in the divided Commons agreed that it was better than the alternative of a chaotic rupture with the EU. Late Wednesday evening, Parliament\u2019s upper chamber, the unelected House of Lords, also backed the deal. It will become British law within hours, once it has received the formality of royal assent from Queen Elizabeth II. The U.K. left the EU almost a year ago, but remained within the bloc\u2019s economic embrace during a transition period that ends at midnight Brussels time \u2013 11 p.m. in London \u2013 on Thursday. The day before departure, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel signed the hard-won agreement during a brief ceremony in Brussels. \u201cThe agreement that we signed today is the result of months of intense negotiations in which the European Union has displayed an unprecedented level of unity,\u201d Michel said. \u201cIt is a fair and balanced agreement that fully protects the fundamental interests of the European Union and creates stability and predictability for citizens and companies.\u201d The documents were then flown by Royal Air Force plane to London, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson added his signature in a photo opportunity in front of a row of Union Jack flags. The European Parliament also must sign off on the agreement, but is not expected to get to it for several weeks. Johnson told legislators that the deal heralded \u201ca new relationship between Britain and the EU as sovereign equals.\u201d It has been 4 1\/2 years since Britain voted 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the bloc it had joined in 1973. Brexit started on Jan.31 of this year, but the real repercussions of that decision have yet to be felt, since the U.K.\u2019s economic relationship with the EU remained unchanged during the 11-month transition period that ends Dec.31. Big changes are coming on New Year\u2019s Day. The agreement, hammered out after more than nine months of tense negotiations and sealed on Christmas Eve, will ensure Britain and the 27-nation EU can continue to trade in goods without tariffs or quotas. That should help protect the 660 billion pounds ($894 billion) in annual trade between the two sides, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that rely on it. But the end to Britain\u2019s membership in the EU\u2019s vast single market and customs union will still bring inconvenience and new expense for both individuals and businesses \u2013 from the need for tourists to have travel insurance to the millions of new customs declarations that firms will have to fill out. Brexit supporters, including Johnson, say any short-term pain will be worth it. Johnson said the Brexit deal would turn Britain from \u201ca half-hearted, sometimes obstructive member of the EU\u201d into \u201ca friendly neighbor \u2013 the best friend and ally the EU could have.\u201d He said Britain would now \u201ctrade and cooperate with our European neighbors on the closest terms of friendship and goodwill, whilst retaining sovereign control of our laws and our national destiny.\u201d Some lawmakers grumbled about being given only five hours in Parliament to scrutinize a 1,200-page deal that will mean profound changes for Britain\u2019s economy and society. But support among legislators \u2013 most of whom debated and voted from home because of virus restrictions \u2013 was overwhelming, if not always enthusiastic. The powerful euroskeptic wing of Johnson\u2019s Conservative Party, which fought for years for the seemingly long-shot goal of taking Britain out of the EU, gave its backing to the deal. The strongly pro-EU Scottish National Party and Liberal Democrats and Northern Ireland\u2019s Democratic Unionist Party voted against. But the main opposition Labour Party, which had sought a closer relationship with the bloc, said it would vote for the agreement because even a thin deal was better than a chaotic no-deal rupture. \u201cWe have only one day before the end of the transition period, and it\u2019s the only deal that we have,\u201d said Labour leader Keir Starmer. \u201cIt\u2019s a basis to build on in the years to come.\u201d Former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May, who resigned in 2019 after three years of Brexit acrimony in Parliament, said she would vote for Johnson\u2019s agreement. But she said it was worse than the one she had negotiated with the bloc, which lawmakers repeatedly rejected. She noted that the deal protected trade in goods but did not cover services, which account for 80 percent of Britain\u2019s economy. \u201cWe have a deal in trade, which benefits the EU, but not a deal in services, which would have benefited the U.K.,\u201d May said. Success. 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