In yet another major Brexit vote that took place in the House of Commons, Boris Johnson managed to secure another crucial victory.
He managed to pass a bill in Parliament, which would allow the country to leave the EU without a trade deal on the 31st of January. This would allow Johnson to deliver on his initial promise from the election campaign – 'Get Brexit done’.
The Withdrawal Bill Agreement was passed by a majority vote of 330 to 231, which essentially makes the rest of the divorce process more or less a formality.
The next, and final, step needed to complete the process would be for the Bill to be passed in another vote in the House of Lords. It is highly unlikely that the Lords would dismiss Johnson’s proposal after such a landslide victory that took place in the House of Commons.
Stephen Barclay, Brexit Secretary, was quoted by Bloomberg as saying:
“It is my sincere hope that their lordships will now give due regard to the clear majorities we have seen during the committee stage and establish their endorsement of this bill in a similar, timely, fashion. This bill will secure our departure from the European Union with a deal that gives certainty to businesses, protects the rights of our citizens and ensures that we regain control of our money, our borders, our laws and our trade policy.”
What is interesting to note is that Stephen Barclay talks about having secured a deal, which, however, remains a vague throwaway comment. The European Commission, too, has thus far refrained from commenting on the situation.
It remains to be seen what kind of deal exactly has been passed through and whether a sustainable settlement between the UK and the EU has been secured, upon which future negotiations and partnership can be established.
It was, however, promised that the rights of over three million EU citizens living in the UK and over one million British citizens living in the EU are going to be protected after the official departure of the UK.
Meanwhile, the markets did not react quite noticeably to the news, and the British pound remained trading in a more or less subdued manner.
The GBPUSD continues trading in a narrow range spanning between the Significant Resistance level at 1.31708 and the Major Support level at 1.29800.
The cable is likely to continue depreciating in the near future, as indicated by the strengthening bearish momentum, and the exhaustion of the bullish 1-5 Elliott Wave pattern.
It can be seen that currently, a corrective ABC pattern is being established on the 1D chart.