For the Labour Party, shadow minister Paul Blomfield said MPs had the power to decide whether to use measures in the bill, saying the House of Commons had “not solved the problem”, which was “the violation of international law”. The Withdrawal Agreement sets out how the UK and the EU will manage their unpaid financial obligations arising from the UK`s participation in the EU budget as a Member State and other aspects of its EU membership. The agreement reached on these financial aspects is known in the financial agreement (the Regulation). The Withdrawal Agreement, which comprises 599 pages, covers the following main areas[16] Only payments made directly from a financial regulation are approved by the draft law. It does not cover payments related to future agreements between the UK and the EU. The Northern Ireland Protocol, known as the “Irish backstop”, was an annex to the November 2018 draft agreement that outlined provisions to prevent a hard border in Ireland following the United Kingdom`s withdrawal from the European Union. The Protocol contains a provision on a safety net to deal with circumstances in which other satisfactory arrangements have yet to enter into force at the end of the transition period. This project has been replaced by a new protocol which will be described below. In the midst of all this, Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed last week to amend the bill so that the House of Commons gets a vote before it can use the powers associated with violating international law.

The agreement also provides for a transitional period, which lasts until 31 December 2020 and can be extended once by mutual agreement. During the transition period, EU law will continue to apply to the UK (including participation in the European Economic Area, the Single Market and the Customs Union) and the UK will continue to contribute to the EU budget, but the UK will not be represented in EU decision-making bodies. The transition period will give businesses time to adjust to the new situation, and the UK and EU governments time to negotiate a new EU-UK trade deal. [17] [18] She indicated that the government was “ready to reject constructive negotiations with the EU” if they “do not fall within the arbitrarily short time frame” provided for in the bill […].