No letup for UK lawmakers: Johnson presses ahead with Brexit

LONDON — There will be no letup for U.K. lawmakers worn out after Britain’s bruising election campaign. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to begin “before Christmas” the push to secure Parliamentary approval for his Brexit deal.

Buoyed by its landslide victory in Thursday’s election, Johnson’s Conservative government plans to move fast to make good on his campaign mantra to “get Brexit done.” That means ensuring legislation known as the Brexit withdrawal agreement bill is passed in time for the U.K. to complete its historic departure from the European Union by the current deadline of Jan. 31.

Conservative Party lawmaker Rishi Sunak on Sunday told the BBC that Brexit-enabling legislation will be “back to Parliament before Christmas.”

The Conservatives won 365 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons.

Labour took 203 seats, its worst total since 1935. With a Conservative majority of 80, the tortured wrangling that has been a hallmark of Brexit debates since Britain’s 2016 referendum on its EU status should be consigned to history.

But once the Brexit legislation has passed, negotiations between London and Brussels will begin on a new deal covering their economic and strategic relationship.

A transition period built into Johnson’s Brexit deal means that trade between Britain and the bloc will remain smooth until the end of 2020.

But if no pact is ready then, the United Kingdom could still face an economically damaging departure from the EU, its main trading partner.

Senior Johnson ally Michael Gove told Sky News on Sunday that much of the work has already been done on the new deal and “there are areas where the European Union’s interests and the United Kingdom’s interests are already closely aligned, so I am confident that we will be able not just to leave the EU on Jan. 31 but also to conclude all the details of a new relationship in short order.”