AGENCIES: Boris Johnson has urged MPs to “come together” to back the Brexit deal he has secured with the EU, insisting there is “no better outcome”.
The prime minister told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg he wanted the country to “move on” from Brexit, which he described as “divisive”.
And he said he was hopeful the deal would pass the Commons on Saturday.
The government’s former allies in the DUP and every opposition party plans to vote against it.
The new deal, agreed by Johnson and the EU on Thursday, is similar to the one agreed by Theresa May last year – but it removes the controversial backstop clause, which critics say could have kept the UK tied indefinitely to EU customs rules.
Northern Ireland would remain in the UK’s customs union under the new agreement, but there would also be customs checks on some goods passing through en route to Ireland and the EU single market.
Johnson and his team are trying to persuade enough Labour rebels, former Conservatives and Brexiteer Tory rebels to get it across the line in Parliament.
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