On October 17, 2019, the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) reached a Brexit deal. The Withdrawal Agreement was officially published on October 21, 2019. The UK Parliament began to debate the Withdrawal Agreement today (October 22nd) and has already voted against the Prime Minister’s rapid timeline to get the Brexit legislation approved. The Parliament indicated they need more time to scrutinize the bill.
In large part, the deal emphasized the UK’s split with the EU and provided that when the UK leaves the EU, it will continue to apply EU rules until the end of 2020. The Parliament’s decision would mean a Brexit delay, making the UK’s exit unlikely to happen by October 31st.
The UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, had previously declared that if Parliament rejected the deal and the EU agrees to delay Brexit beyond the October 31st deadline, he would instead force a general election. Mr. Johnson would need two-thirds of the Parliament members to support his general election plans, however, Parliament has rejected his agenda twice thus far.