Brexit Day: The End? Or Just the Beginning of More Battles with Brussels?

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Tonight at 11 p.m., the United Kingdom officially leaves the European Union. Officially, as the British are still wedded to many of the EU’s institutions during the “transition” period until December 31st, 2020.

So what happens next? And what happened to the first Brexit Day?

–What Happened to March 29th, 2019?–

Brexit Day was originally supposed to happen on March 29th, 2019, two years after Article 50, the legal mechanism for leaving the EU, was triggered. However, former Prime Minister Theresa May could not pass her unpopular withdrawal agreement with the bloc through the House of Commons, and rather than take Britain out of the EU when pledged in a clean, no-deal break, she clung on to her deal and delayed Brexit twice until October 31st.

Boris Johnson, who had described Mrs May’s deal as a “big turd”, replaced her as Tory leader in the summer of 2019 he negotiated a revised deal — but also failed to take the country out of the EU on Halloween after a Remainer-dominated hung parliament pushed through legislation forcing the prime minister to seek another extension.

After a December snap general election handed the Conservatives an 80-seat Brexit-backing majority, Brexit legislation was passed into law on January 23rd and the deal was ratified in the European Parliament on Wednesday.