After intense wrangling, UK backs a Brexit deal. Now what?
LONDON — Like white smoke from the Vatican announcing a new pope, the signal from Britain’s Cabinet table says: We have a decision.
After a year and a half of negotiating with the European Union — and fighting with itself — the U.K. government on Wednesday backed a deal to allow Britain’s orderly exit from the bloc, and paint the outlines of future relations.
Prime Minister Theresa May’s fractious Conservative government agreed on a deal that solves the key outstanding issue — how to ensure a frictionless border between the U.K.’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland after Brexit. The “backstop” plan involves keeping the U.K. in a customs union with the EU until a permanent trade treaty is worked out.
It’s a breakthrough, but the path to Brexit day — just over four months away on March 29 — remains rocky.