UK Prime Minister Johnson opens debate on post Brexit trade deal

On the eve of the UK’s seismic economic split from the European Union, British lawmakers were being asked to turn a 1,200-page trade agreement with the bloc into law in a single day on Wednesday.

Just after the EU’s top officials formally signed the hard-won agreement in Brussels, Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged legislators in the House of Commons to back a deal that he said heralded a new relationship between Britain and the EU as sovereign equals.

The U.K. left the EU almost a year ago, but remained within the bloc’s economic embrace during a transition period that ends at midnight Brussels time - 11 p.m. in London - on Thursday.

The deal will then enter into force, if Britain’s Parliament has approved it. The European Parliament also must sign off on the agreement, but is not expected to do so for several weeks.

(IMAGE CREDITS:AP)