page_title: Timeline of Brexit
section_title: 2020
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of Brexit / 2020
context_page_description: Below is a timeline of major events concerning Brexit following the referendum and after Brexit Day on 31 January 2020.
context_section_description: 22 January: the Withdrawal Agreement Bill proposed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson passed the UK parliament after several amendments proposed by the House of Lords were rejected by the House of Commons in a vote of 342–254. The Lords later decided not to propose further amendments, thereby allowing passage of the bill to the Queen to receive royal assent.
  23 January: the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 received royal assent.
  23 January: The constitutional committee in the European Parliament backs the withdrawal agreement, setting the expectation that it would be approved by the entire parliament.
  24 January: Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel, and PM Boris Johnson sign the withdrawal agreement. Von der Leyen and Michel signed the agreement in the Europa Building in Brussels and then sent the agreement in a diplomatic bag to 10 Downing Street in London for Johnson to sign the agreement.
  28 January: Chris Pincher becomes the last UK Minister to attend an EU meeting in Brussels when he was present at the General Affairs Council.
  29 January: The European Parliament gives its consent to the Council of the European Union to conclude the withdrawal agreement by 621 votes to 49. This also was the final time that MEPs from the United Kingdom sat in the European Parliament.
  30 January: The Council of the European Union concludes ratification of the withdrawal agreement.
   
  31 January: At 11 p.m. GMT the United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union, at the deadline set for its departure by the Article 50 extension agreed between the UK and the EU in October 2019, and transitional arrangements begin for the period ending on 31 December 2020.
  3 February: UK government objectives, as published, include:
  Respect the sovereignty of both parties and the autonomy of their legal orders.
  No regulatory alignment, nor any jurisdiction for the CJEU over the UK’s laws, nor any supranational control in any area, including the UK’s borders and immigration policy.
  A suite of agreements of which the main elements would be a comprehensive free trade agreement covering substantially all trade, an agreement on fisheries, and an agreement to cooperate in the area of internal security, together with a number of more technical agreements covering areas such as aviation or civil nuclear cooperation.
  Future cooperation in other areas does not need to be managed through an international Treaty.
  The UK Government will be acting also on behalf of the UK Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories: the whole UK family.
  The UK proposes to agree similar arrangements with the EFTA states.
  A free trade agreement between the UK and EU should reflect, and develop where necessary, existing international best practice as set out, inter alia, in FTAs already agreed by the EU.
  18 March: The EU publishes its draft proposal for a New Partnership with the UK, translating the Political Declaration agreed with the Withdrawal Agreement into a legal text.
caption: Crowds in Parliament Square for the formal moment of exit at 11 p.m. on 31 January 2020
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