Parliament on Wednesday voted resoundingly to approve a trade deal with the EU, paving the way for an orderly break that will finally complete the UK’s long and divisive Brexit journey.
With just a day to spare, the House of Commons voted 521-73 in favour of the agreement sealed between the UK government and the EU last week.
Brexit enthusiasts in Parliament praised it as a reclamation of independence from the bloc.
Pro-Europeans lamented its failure to preserve seamless trade with Britain’s biggest economic partner.
But the vast majority in the divided Commons agreed that it was better than the alternative of no deal with the EU.
Late on Wednesday evening, Parliament’s upper chamber, the unelected House of Lords, also backed the deal.
It is now officially UK legislation, with Queen Elizabeth II formally giving it royal assent in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The UK left the EU almost a year ago but remained within the bloc’s economic embrace during a transition period that ends at midnight Brussels time, 11pm in London, on Thursday.
The day before departure, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel signed the hard-won agreement at a brief ceremony in Brussels.
“The agreement that we signed today is the result of months of intense negotiations in which the European Union has displayed an unprecedented level of unity,” Mr Michel said.
“It is a fair and balanced agreement that fully protects the fundamental interests of the European Union and creates stability and predictability for citizens and companies.”
The documents were then flown by Royal Air Force plane to London, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson added his signature in a photo opportunity in front of a row of Union Jack flags.
The European Parliament also must sign the agreement, but is not expected to get to it for several weeks.
Mr Johnson told legislators that the deal heralded “a new relationship between Britain and the EU as sovereign equals".
It has been three and a half years since Britain voted 52 per cent to 48 per cent to leave the bloc it had joined in 1973.
Brexit started on January 31 this year, but the real repercussions have yet to be felt because the UK’s economic relationship with the EU remained unchanged during the 11-month transition that ends on December 31.
Big changes are coming on New Year’s Day.
The agreement, negotiated during nine tense months and sealed on Christmas Eve, will ensure Britain and the 27-nation EU can continue to trade in goods without tariffs or quotas.
That should help to protect the £660 billion ($894bn) in annual trade between the two sides, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that rely on it.
But the end to Britain’s membership in the EU’s vast single market and Customs union will still bring inconvenience and new expense for people and businesses — from tourists' travel insurance to millions of new Customs declarations for companies.
Brexit supporters, including Mr Johnson, say any short-term pain will be worth it.
He said the Brexit deal would turn Britain from “a half-hearted, sometimes obstructive member of the EU” into “a friendly neighbour; the best friend and ally the EU could have".
Mr Johnson said Britain would now “trade and co-operate with our European neighbours on the closest terms of friendship and good-will, while retaining sovereign control of our laws and our national destiny".
Some politicians were unhappy to be given only five hours in Parliament to scrutinise a 1,200-page deal that will mean profound changes for Britain’s economy and society.
But support among legislators, most of whom debated and voted from home because of coronavirus restrictions, was overwhelming, if not always enthusiastic.
The powerful eurosceptic wing of Mr Johnson’s Conservative Party, which fought for years for the seemingly long-shot goal of taking Britain out of the EU, gave its backing to the deal.
The strongly pro-EU Scottish National Party, Liberal Democrats and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party voted against.
But the main opposition Labour Party, which sought a closer relationship with the bloc, said it would vote for the agreement because even a thin deal was better than no deal.
“We have only one day before the end of the transition period and it’s the only deal that we have,” said Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. “It’s a basis to build on in the years to come.”
Former Conservative prime minister Theresa May, who resigned in 2019 after three years of Brexit acrimony in Parliament, said she would vote for Mr Johnson’s agreement.
But Mrs May said it was worse than the one she had negotiated with the bloc, which MPs repeatedly rejected.
She said the deal protected trade in goods but did not cover services, which account for 80 per cent of Britain’s economy.
“We have a deal in trade, which benefits the EU, but not a deal in services, which would have benefitted the UK,” Mrs May said.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
OPINIONS ON PALESTINE & ISRAEL
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Biography
Favourite Meal: Chicken Caesar salad
Hobbies: Travelling, going to the gym
Inspiration: Father, who was a captain in the UAE army
Favourite read: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter
Favourite film: The Founder, about the establishment of McDonald's
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
