After Landmark Vote, 'Battle to Stop Brexit Is Over'

Britain took a big step toward the European Union exit door on Friday: Lawmakers gave preliminary approval to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s EU divorce bill in a decisive vote that broke years of political deadlock over Brexit, per the AP. The House of Commons, with its Conservative ranks swollen after Johnson's election victory last week, voted 358-234 for the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, clearing the way for the UK to leave the European Union next month. Friday's vote was a moment of triumph for Johnson, who won a commanding parliamentary majority in last week’s general election on a promise to end more than three years of political gridlock and lead Britain out of the EU on Jan. 31.

"This is a time when we move on and discard the old labels of ‘leave’ and ‘remain,'" Johnson said. "Now is the time to act together as one reinvigorated nation." Jubilant Conservative lawmakers gathered around the prime minister in the House of Commons after the vote, getting him to sign their copies of the bill. Opposition lawmakers looked despondent. "The battle to stop Brexit is over," said pro-EU Liberal Democrat Wera Hobhouse. The bill will receive more scrutiny and possible amendment next month when lawmakers return from a two-week holiday break, and it also has to be approved by Parliament’s unelected upper chamber, the House of Lords. But Johnson’s parliamentary majority means it is almost certain to become law in January. (More Brexit stories.)