Brexit pangs
Brexit, once hailed as a grand natural experiment for economists to dissect the repercussions of leaving a low-friction trade environment, has proven messier than anticipated.
A Brexit deal has been agreed between UK and European Union negotiating teams before a meeting of European leaders in Brussels, according to reports on Thursday.
Taking to Twitter, PM Boris Johnson tweeted that, “We’ve got a great new deal that takes back control”.
We’ve got a great new deal that takes back control — now Parliament should get Brexit done on Saturday so we can move on to other priorities like the cost of living, the NHS, violent crime and our environment #GetBrexitDone #TakeBackControl
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— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) October 17, 2019
The two sides have been working on the legal text of a deal, but it will still need the approval of both the UK and European Parliaments.
Earlier in the day, the Northern Irish party released a statement, saying they could not support Johnson’s Brexit plan in its current form and after PM announcement they said that our statement “still stands”.
But European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said it was a “fair and balanced agreement”.
Both Juncker and Johnson have urged their respective parliaments to back the deal.
Earlier this week, the EU’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said that a divorce deal with the United Kingdom is still possible this week but the British government needs to come forward with a legal text.
The stepped-up negotiations came after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar held a meeting last week, both sides dubbed “promising”.
Earlier this month, Johnson had submitted new proposals to the EU and its leaders promised to examine them carefully.
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