UK counts down to Brexit as Johnson hails new “beginning”

Published by Scott Challinor on January 31st 2020, 10:10am

The clock is ticking on the UK’s final day in the EU, as 47 years as a member state comes to an end at 23:00 GMT on Friday.

Prime minister Boris Johnson has prepared a recorded video message to be released one hour before Brexit, in which he hails the UK’s departure as “not an end but a beginning”.

His message will add: “This is the moment when the dawn breaks and the curtain goes up on a new act. It is a moment of real national renewal and change."

Most EU laws will remain in place until the end of the Brexit transition period, which will lapse on December 31, 2020. By this point, both the UK and EU will hope to have reached a free-trade deal.

A cabinet meeting will be symbolically held in Sunderland on Friday, the first city to declare for Leave when the 2016 EU referendum results were announced.

Brexiteers are due to gather in a Parliament Square adorned with Union flags for a celebration, with a projected clock counting down to 23:00 to be shown upon Downing Street.

However, the Big Ben bell has not been restored to chime at 23:00 GMT, due to the ongoing renovation works at the Palace of Westminster.

Meanwhile, pro-EU supporters are expected to bid their farewells to the bloc with a march through Whitehall at 15:00, while candlelit vigils will be held in Scotland where the populace voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining in the EU.

Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon is expected to use the occasion to once more push the case for Scottish independence during a speech in Edinburgh later.

The UK flag will be removed from all EU institutions on Friday, with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen calling the occasion an “emotional day”.

She said: “It is the story of old friends and new beginnings now. Therefore it is an emotional day, but I’m looking forward to the next stage.”

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Authored By

Scott Challinor
Business Editor
January 31st 2020, 10:10am

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