Signs post-Brexit trade deal

Boris Johnson signs post-Brexit trade deal

Agreement will apply provisionally from January 1.

BY CRISTINA GALLARDO

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed the post-Brexit trade and cooperation agreement Wednesday.

A Royal Air Force plane transported the text from Brussels to London shortly after it was signed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel in the morning.

The deal, agreed on December 24, lays down the details of the future relationship between the U.K. and the EU.

“By signing this deal, we fulfil the sovereign wish of the British people to live under their own laws, made by their own elected Parliament,” Johnson tweeted.

The agreement will become U.K. law by the end of the day, as the Westminster parliament fast-tracked a bill enshrining the new arrangements.

On the EU side, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU will also have to examine and ratify the text before it can fully enter into force. But the treaty will apply provisionally from January 1.

This means that the EU can start implementing the agreement with the approval of EU national governments but without the consent of the European Parliament. MEPs said they will scrutinize the deal at the beginning of next year.