By: Iain Fraser - Editor-at-Large
City of London Newsroom
So BREXIT has finally happened as the UK's days in the Union come to an end at 23:00hrs GMT. today [31 January, 2020] after 47 years.
UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson is scheduled to make a speech to be shown at 22:00 GMT - an hour before the official departure time - he will hail the departure as the beginning of a new era.
His exit mantra will be Brexit is "not an end but a beginning"- and whatever you individual feeling about the UK Prime Minister he "Got BREXIT Done" as he promised in his election manifesto and it was his dogged determination to "Get BREXIT Done" the got the Tory´s re-elected. He will describe severing ties with the other 27 EU nations as "a moment of real national renewal and change
Brexit was originally scheduled for 29 March last year but was repeatedly delayed when MP's
rejected a previous withdrawal agreement reached by the EU and former Prime Minister Theresa
May. However Johnson was able to get his own deal through Parliament after winning December's general election with a House of Commons majority of 80, on a pledge to "get Brexit done".
The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said his thoughts were with "the millions of British
citizens who are sad, as we are sad". He went on to say "We will remain friends, allies and partners,"
he added. "We have to rebuild. I think we are stronger together." Mr Barnier said he had been seeking
to understand Brexit, and that he believed it showed the EU needed to listen to the people of Europe
more closely.
So - What happens now ?
Well immediately, not very much, as Britain enters the twilight zone. Most EU laws will continue to be in force - including the free movement of people - until the end of December, by which time the UK aims to have reached a permanent free trade agreement with the EU.
