Brexit withdrawal agreement
The Brexit withdrawal agreement, officially titled Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, is a treaty between the European Union, Euratom, and the United Kingdom, signed on 24 January 2020, setting the terms of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU and Euratom. The text of the treaty was published on 17 October 2019, and is a renegotiated version of an agreement published half a year earlier. The earlier version of the withdrawal agreement was rejected by the House of Commons on three occasions, leading to the resignation of Theresa May as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
The Parliament of the United Kingdom gave its approval to the then draft Agreement by enacting implementing legislation on 23 January 2020. After the Agreement was signed, the Government of the United Kingdom issued and deposited Britain's instrument of ratification of the Agreement on 29 January 2020. The Agreement was ratified by the Council of the European Union on 30 January 2020, following the consent of the European Parliament on 29 January 2020. The United Kingdom's withdrawal from the Union took effect on 11 p.m. GMT on 31 January 2020, and at that moment the Withdrawal Agreement entered into force, as per its article 185.
The Agreement covers such matters as money, citizens' rights, border arrangements and dispute resolution. It also contains a transition period and an outline of the future relationship between the UK and the EU. Published on 14 November 2018, it was a result of the Brexit negotiations. The agreement was endorsed by the leaders of the 27 remaining EU countries and the UK Government led by Prime Minister Theresa May, but faced opposition in the UK parliament, whose approval was necessary for ratification. Approval by the European Parliament would also have been required. On 15 January 2019, the House of Commons rejected the withdrawal agreement by a vote of 432 to 202. The Commons rejected the Agreement again on 12 March 2019, on a vote of 391 to 242, and rejected a third time of 29 March 2019 by 344 votes to 286. On 22 October 2019 the revised withdrawal agreement negotiated by Boris Johnson's government cleared the first stage in Parliament, but Johnson paused the legislative process when the accelerated programme for approval failed to achieve the necessary support, and announced his intention to call a general election. On 23 January 2020, Parliament ratified the agreement by passing the Withdrawal Agreement Act; on 29 January 2020, the European Parliament gave its consent to the withdrawal agreement. It was subsequently concluded by the Council of the European Union on 30 January 2020.
The withdrawal agreement provides for a transition period until at least 31 December 2020, during which the UK remains in the single market, in order to ensure frictionless trade until a long-term relationship is agreed. However,, the latter remains subject to ongoing negotiations. If no such agreement is reached by that date and the transition period is not extended, a no-deal Brexit would be the default outcome on the first of January 2021.
Closely connected to the withdrawal agreement is a non-binding political declaration on the future EU-UK relationship.
Background
2015 United Kingdom general election and 2016 Brexit referendum
In the Conservative Party's manifesto for the United Kingdom general election in May 2015, the Party promised an EU referendum by the end of 2017.The referendum, held on 23 June 2016, resulted in a 51.9% to 48.1% majority vote for leaving the European Union.
Content (2018 version)
The withdrawal agreement, which runs to 599 pages, covers the following main areas:- Money, particularly the division of assets and liabilities, and payment of any debt outstanding
- Citizens rights, both of UK citizens in EU countries and vice-versa
- Border arrangements and customs, particularly along the border between the UK and the Republic of Ireland
- The law, and the mechanisms for resolving disputes, currently vested with the European Court of Justice
On the Irish border question, there is a Northern Ireland Protocol appended to the agreement which sets a fall-back position that will only come into force should effective alternative arrangements fail to be demonstrated before the end of the transition period. If this happens, the UK will shadow the EU's Common external tariff and Northern Ireland will keep in aspects of the Single Market, until such a demonstration is achieved. Neither party can unilaterally withdraw from this customs union. The goal of this backstop agreement is to avoid a "hard" border in Ireland, where customs checks are necessary.
The governance will be through a Joint Committee with representatives of both the European Union and the British government. There will be a number of specialised committees reporting to the Joint Committee.
The withdrawal agreement also includes provisions for the UK to leave the Convention Defining the Statute of the European Schools, with the UK bound by the Convention and the accompanying regulations on Accredited European Schools until the end of the last academic year of the transition period, i.e. the end of the spring semester of 2020–2021.
The more important elements of the draft agreement are these:
Common provisions
The Agreement assists the arrangements of withdrawing the UK from the European Union and Euratom, provides a clear definition for the territorial scope of the United Kingdom, and assures the legal liability of the Agreement. Additionally, it states that by the end of the transition period, the UK shall be denied access to "any network, any information system and any database established on the basis of Union law".Citizens' rights: general provisions
The Agreement defines and provides the personal scope of citizens, family members, frontier workers, host states, and nationals. Article 11 deals with continuity of residence and Article 12 discusses non-discrimination.Rights and obligations
UK nationals and Union citizens, family members who are UK nationals or Union citizens and family members who are neither of those two shall maintain the right to reside in the host State. The host State may not limit or condition the persons for obtaining, retaining or losing residence rights. Persons with valid documentation would not require entry and exit visas or equal formalities and would be permitted to leave or enter the host state without complications. In case the host State demands "family members who join the Union citizen or United Kingdom national after the end of the transition period to have an entry visa", the host State is required to grant necessary visas through an accelerated process in appropriate facilities free of charge. The Agreement further deals with the issuance of permanent residence permits during and after the transition period, as well as its restrictions. Moreover, it clarifies the rights of workers and self-employed individuals, and provides recognition and identification of professional qualifications.Coordination of social security systems
This title discusses special cases, administrative cooperation, legal adaptations and development of Union laws.Goods placed on the market
The Agreement defines the goods, services and the processes connected to them. It claims that any good or service that was lawfully placed in the market prior to the withdrawal from the Union may be further made available to the consumers in the UK or the Union States.Ongoing customs procedures
This title addresses the custom procedures of goods moving from the customs territory of the UK to the customs territory of the Union and vice versa. The processes that start before the end of the transition period "shall be treated as an intra-Union movement regarding importation and exportation licencing requirements in Union law". The Agreement also addresses the ending of temporary storage or customs procedures.Ongoing value added tax and excise duty matters
The VAT applies to goods that are exchanged between the Union and the UK. By way of derogation from previous Articles, the Title permits access to information systems that are necessary for the application or processing of the VAT.Annexes
There are ten annexes to the draft. The first is a protocol to maintain an open border between the EU and the UK on the island of Ireland. The second covers the arrangements for a common customs territory to operate between the EU and the UK, until a technical solution can be found that delivers both an open border and independent customs policies. The third covers operations of the joint customs territory. The fourth covers 'good governance in the area of taxation, environmental protection, labour and social standards, state aid, competition, and state-owned undertakings. The fifth to eighth cover relevant provisions in EU law. The ninth and tenth details procedures arising from main sections of the draft.Northern Ireland protocols (the Backstop and beyond)
The Northern Ireland Protocol, known familiarly as the "Irish backstop", was an annex to the November 2018 draft agreement that described the provisions to prevent a hard border in Ireland after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union. The Protocol included a safety-net provision to handle the circumstances where satisfactory alternative arrangements remain to come into operation at the end of the transition period. This draft was replaced by a new Protocol that is described next.Revisions in 2019
The agreement was subject to revisions under the Johnson ministry's renegotiation in 2019. The amendments adjust approximately 5% of the text.Northern Ireland
The Irish backstop is removed, and replaced by a on Northern Ireland/Republic of Ireland. In this, the whole of the UK comes out of the EU Customs Union as a single customs territory, with Northern Ireland included in any future UK trade deals. However, Northern Ireland adopts EU Single Market regulations on goods in order to prevent a hard border and remains an entry point into the EU Customs Union. This leads to a de jure customs border on the island of Ireland, but a de facto customs border down the Irish Sea. EU tariffs, collected by the UK on behalf of the EU, would be levied on goods going from Great Britain to Northern Ireland that are "at risk" of then being transported into and sold in the Republic of Ireland; if they ultimately aren't, then firms in Northern Ireland can claim rebates on goods where the UK had lower tariffs than the EU.This protocol also includes a unilateral exit mechanism for Northern Ireland: the Northern Ireland Assembly will vote every four years on whether to continue with these arrangements, for which a simple majority is required. These votes will occur two months before the end of each four-year period, with the first period starting at the end of December 2020. If the Assembly is suspended at the time, arrangements will be made for the MLAs to vote. If the Assembly expresses cross-community support in one of these periodic votes, then the protocol will apply for the next eight years instead of the usual four. However, if the Assembly votes against continuing with these arrangements, then there will be a two-year period for the UK and EU to agree to new arrangements.
Political Declaration
The 2019 revisions also adjusted elements of the political declaration, replacing the word "adequate" with "appropriate" in regard to labour standards. According to Sam Lowe, trade fellow at the Centre for European Reform, the change excludes labour standards from dispute settlement mechanisms. In addition, the level playing field mechanism has been moved from the legally-binding withdrawal agreement to the political declaration, and the line in the political declaration that “the United Kingdom will consider aligning with union rules in relevant areas” has been removed.Reception
Original deal
The reception of the agreement in the House of Commons ranged from cool to hostile and the vote was delayed more than a month. Prime Minister May won a no confidence motion in her own party, but the EU refused to accept any further changes.UK government resignations
On 15 November 2018, the day after the agreement was presented and received backing from the cabinet of the UK government, several members of the government resigned, including Dominic Raab, Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.Contempt of Parliament
Following an unprecedented vote on 4 December 2018, MPs ruled that the UK government was in contempt of parliament for refusing to provide to Parliament the full legal advice it had been given on the effect of its proposed terms for withdrawal. The key point within the advice covered the legal effect of the "backstop" agreement governing Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the rest of the UK, in regard to the customs border between the EU and UK, and its implications for the Good Friday agreement which had led to the end of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and specifically, whether the UK would be certain of being able to leave the EU in a practical sense, under the draft proposals.The following day, the advice was published. The question asked was, "What is the legal effect of the UK agreeing to the Protocol to the Withdrawal Agreement on Ireland and Northern Ireland in particular its effect in conjunction with Articles5 and 184 of the main Withdrawal Agreement?" The advice given was that:
Revised deal
Immediately following announcement of a revised withdrawal agreement on 17 October 2019, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and DUP said that they could not support the new deal.UK Parliament votes
On 15 January 2019, the House of Commons voted down the Brexit withdrawal agreement by 230 votes, the largest vote against the United Kingdom government in history. The May government survived a confidence vote the following day. On 12 March 2019, the Commons voted down the agreement a second time by 149 votes, the fourth-largest defeat of the government in the history of the Commons. A third vote on the Brexit withdrawal agreement, widely expected to be held on 19 March 2019, was refused by the Speaker of the House of Commons on 18 March 2019 on the basis of a parliamentary convention dating from 2 April 1604 that prevents UK governments from forcing the Commons to repeatedly vote on an issue that the Commons has already voted upon. A cut-down version of the withdrawal agreement, where the attached political declaration had been removed, passed the speaker's test for 'substantial change', so a third vote was held on 29 March 2019, but was voted down by 58 votes.On 22 October 2019, the House of Commons agreed by 329 votes to 299 to give a Second Reading to the revised withdrawal agreement, but when the accelerated timetable which he proposed failed to gain the necessary parliamentary support, Johnson announced that the legislation would be paused.
On 20 December 2019, following the Conservative victory in the 2019 United Kingdom general election, the House of Commons passed the second reading of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill by a margin of 358–234. After amendments proposed by the House of Lords and ping-pong between the two houses, the bill received royal assent on 23 January 2020, enabling ratification on the UK side.
European Union ratification
On the part of the European Union, the European Parliament gave its consent to the ratification of the Agreement also on 29 January 2020, and the Council of the European Union approved the conclusion of the Agreement on 30 January 2020 by email. Accordingly, also on 30 January 2020, the European Union deposited its instrument of ratification of the Agreement, thus concluding the deal, and allowing it to enter into force at the moment of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the Union at 11 p.m. GMT on 31 January 2020.Political declaration of future relationship
The Declaration on Future European Union–United Kingdom Relations, also referred to as the Political Declaration, is a non-binding declaration that was negotiated and signed along with the binding and more comprehensive Withdrawal Agreement in connection with the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, colloquially known as Brexit, and the planned end of the transitional period.The text has been characterised as deliberately vague, keeping a range of possible options on the table, including continuing UK participation in the EU's Single Market and Customs Union.