Boris Johnson will claim to have achieved a “resolution” of decades-long clashes between the UK and the rest of Europe, when MPs back his Brexit trade and security bill in the Commons.
“Namely, that we could trade and cooperate with our European neighbours on the closest terms of friendship and good will, whilst retaining sovereign control of our laws and our national destiny,” he will tell MPs.
Mr Johnson will also seek to heal wounds by promising to be “the best friend and ally the EU could have”, working “hand in glove” in the years to come
“Those of us who campaigned for Britain to leave the EU never sought a rupture with our closest neighbours,” he will claim, despite the bitter rows and harsh insults since the 2016 referendum.
“We would never wish to rupture ourselves from fellow democracies beneath whose soil lie British war graves in tranquil cemeteries, often tended by local schoolchildren, testament to our shared struggle for freedom and everything we cherish in common.
“What we sought was not a rupture but a resolution, a resolution of the old and vexed question of Britain’s political relations with Europe, which bedevilled our postwar history.”
Mr Johnson will speak at the start of a rapid-fire five-hour debate, which many MPs have protested makes a mockery of trying to scrutinise a 1,254-page document – with the bill itself only published on Tuesday afternoon.
Describing the trade agreement as “threadbare”, the Lib Dem leader, Sir Ed Davey, said: “It is clear that this is a bad deal that will make people’s lives poorer, so the Liberal Democrats will vote against it.”
Even before the parliament approves the bill, the prime minister will sign the treaty itself, which will be flown in from Brussels in an RAF plane, accompanied by UK and EU officials.
With amendments possible in the House of Lords – which then have to be overturned in the Commons – it could be Thursday morning before the Queen gives it royal assent.
That would still be in time for the end of the post-Brexit transition period, at 11pm on New Year’s Eve, when the UK will leave the EU single market and customs union.
The agreement points the way to further clashes, because Brussels will be able to impose tariffs, after arbitration, if the UK secures a competitive advantage by weakening labour, consumer or environmental protections.
In his speech, Mr Johnson will make clear his determination to break free of EU rules, saying: “We have nothing to fear if we sometimes choose to do things differently and much to gain from the healthy stimulus of competition.”
