Afternoon summary
- MEPs have voted overwhelmingly to approve the withdrawal agreement, clearing one of the last remaining hurdles in the process that will see the UK leave the EU on Friday night. The outcome of the vote was never in doubt, but the debate was nevertheless at times passionate and moving. Nigel Farage was reprimanded by the chair after he and fellow Brexit party MEPs waved mini union jacks after his speech, in which he denounced the EU as anti-democratic, before some of them left en masse for the bar. But most British MEPs who spoke expressed deep sadness about Brexit, with many of them predicting that one day the UK would decide to return. (See 4.37pm, 5.01pm, 5.04pm, 5.09pm and 5.16pm for some examples.) This marks a contrast with Westminster, where there is almost no one arguing publicly that Brexit will be reversed. Jess Phillips floated this idea briefly, stepped back within 24 hours, and is now out of the Labour leadership contest for good.
- Boris Johnson has said he will celebrate Brexit on Friday in a “respectful” way. Speaking during his “People’s PMQs” on Facebook, in response to a question about he would mark Brexit on Friday, he said:
What I will be doing is, in common with everybody else, I will be making a dignified exit from the European Union.I will be celebrating in a way that I hope is respectful of the scale of the event, that does justice to the astonishing feat that Britain has accomplished but also is mindful of everybody’s feelings about what we are doing.
It is a great moment for our country, it is a moment of hope and opportunity but it is also, I think, a moment for us to come together in a spirit of confidence.
- Rebecca Long-Bailey has received the third union nomination she needs to be guaranteed a place on the final ballot of members for the Labour leadership. (See 5.24pm.) The final nomination came from the Fire Brigades Union.
Fire Brigades Union (@fbunational)Our executive council has resoundingly voted to endorse @RLong_Bailey as the leader Labour needs to take on this viciously right-wing, anti-worker Tory governmenthttps://t.co/MDaPTsCXJj
January 29, 2020
That’s all from me for today. And for the rest of the week, I’m afraid, because I’m away for the next two days.
Thanks for the comments.
Here are some quotes from the European parliament debate.
From Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s Brexit coordinator
What is in fact threatening Britain’s sovereignty most - the rules of our single market or the fact that tomorrow they may be planting Chinese 5G masts in the British islands? ...
It is sad to see a country leaving that twice liberated us, has twice given its blood to liberate Europe ...
In the last couple of days I have received hundreds of mails from British citizens saying they desperately want to stay or return ... So this vote is not an adieu, this vote, in my opinion, is only an au revoir.
From Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European commission
No new partnership will bring back the benefits of being part of the same union but we have the duty to seek the best for the British and for the European people in a post-Brexit world.
To our British friends and many - perhaps not all - but many of our British MEPs here in the room, I want to use the words of the famous British poet George Eliot.
She said, ‘Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depth of love’.
We will always love you and we will never be far, long live Europe.
From Nigel Farage, the Brexit party leader
I’m hoping this begins the end of this project. It’s a bad project, it isn’t just undemocratic it’s anti-democratic ...
There is a historic battle going on now across the West - in Europe, America and elsewhere. It is globalism against populism. And you may loathe populism, but I’ll tell you a funny thing - it’s becoming very popular.
And it has great benefits. No more financial contributions, no more European Court of Justice, no more common fisheries policy, no more being talked down to, no more being bullied, no more Guy Verhofstadt.
From Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator
We are going to continue in the year that comes, this current year with the same spirit, the same objectivity, without any aggression by firmly, however, defending the interests of the union and its member states.
Going beyond Brexit the UK will remain there.
It will remain a close partner when it comes to the economy. It will be an ally as it always has been and it will be a friend.
Here is video of MEPs signing Auld Lang Syne.
Nick Gutteridge (@nick_gutteridge)
The much-promises rendition of Auld Lang Syne from pro-EU MEPs immediately after the vote. pic.twitter.com/ifcxMACztm
January 29, 2020
This week’s Guardian Politics Weekly podcast is out. Heather Stewart rings in the end of an era as Brexit seems all but done. She chats to Jennifer Rankin, Andrew Fisher and James Kirkup about what Britain will look like after 31 January. Plus, the panel discuss whether the Labour leadership candidates are focusing on the right issues.
Photograph: Virginia Mayo/AP
From the BBC’s Scotland editor, Sarah Smith
sarah smith (@BBCsarahsmith)Scottish Parliament has voted in favour of holding another independence referendum. But this does not mean it will happen. Still needs agreement from Westminster. They've also voted to keep the EU flag flying outside Holyrood after Brexit. This will happen.
January 29, 2020
From Jaume Duch, spokesperson for the European parliament
Jaume Duch (@jduch)The European Parliament gives its consent to the Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and the EU. The UK will leave the EU at midnight CET time on Friday 31st January. pic.twitter.com/70c3qKW541
January 29, 2020
David Sassoli, president of the parliament, says MEPs have voted to approve the withdrawal agreement. Now the European council must conclude the formalities tomorrow.
He quotes Jo Cox, the Labour MP murdered by a far-right terrorist during the referendum campaign. There is more that united us than divides us, he says.
MEPs approve withdrawal agreement
MEPs have approved the withdrawal agreement by 621 votes to 49.
Now MEPs are singing Auld Lang Syne.
Barnier has switched to English for his final comment.
He says, at this moment of new beginning, he would like to wish the UK well.
Barnier says it is possible to be a European over and above being a patriot. That can give additional force to national patriotism, he says.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, is concluding the debate. He says it has been a moving debate. The EU respected the UK vote to leave, he says.
He thanks the contribution made by British MEPs.
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