(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. and the European Union will on Wednesday sign the treaty formalizing the post-Brexit trade agreement the two sides reached on Christmas Eve.
After European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel sign the document, it will be flown by Royal Air Force jet to London where Prime Minister Boris Johnson will do the same.
British lawmakers will get only a day to debate the agreement, because it needs to be implemented by the time the Brexit transition period ends at 11 p.m. on Dec. 31.
Here's how the process will work, according to Johnson's spokesman:
- The government published the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill, the legislation putting the deal into law, on Tuesday.
- At 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the bill will begin its passage through the House of Commons. Johnson will open the second reading of the bill -- the first debate on the legislation -- while Cabinet minister Michael Gove will wrap up the debate for the government
- The bill is expected to clear the House of Commons by 2:30 p.m.
- It will then go to the unelected House of Lords, where peers are expected to finish voting on it after 10 p.m.
- The legislation will receive Royal Assent -- putting it into law -- later that evening, or in the early hours of Thursday morning
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