LONDON: Britain will still leave the European Union on Oct. 31 as scheduled if the latest Brexit deal is voted down by lawmakers, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday.
“We will leave the European Union on October 31st,” Johnson told the BBC on the eve of a parliamentary vote on his agreement with the EU.
Johnson, a leader of the “leave” campaign in 2016 who has vowed to leave the EU at the end of this month come what may, said he had secured a “great new deal that takes back control”.
Looking worn and tired after days of intense politicking, Johnson urged MPs “to come together to get Brexit done, to get this excellent deal over the line and to deliver Brexit without any more delay.”
The compromise reached on Thursday is a personal victory for Johnson, who was told repeatedly by EU leaders that they were not open to reworking a deal initially inked last year.
But there were immediate signs the Commons — which rejected the previous divorce text three times — might again refuse to play ball.
Read more: Less than 10 Labour MPs to back UK PM’s Brexit deal on Saturday: BBC reporter tweet
Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which props up Johnson’s Conservatives, said it was “unable to support these proposals”.
The main opposition Labour, Scottish National and Liberal Democrat parties also spoke out against it.
Their response sent the pound sinking again after it had earlier risen to five-month peaks on news of the deal.
