Brexit negotiations

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (June 2023)

This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. You can assist by editing it. (June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Brexit negotiations
2017, 2018, 2019

Map of the United Kingdom (orange) and the European Union (blue)
Type	Withdrawal agreement Transitional agreement Trade agreement
Condition	Ratification by the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament, and the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Negotiators	Donald Tusk (Council President) Jean-Claude Juncker (Commission President) Michel Barnier (European Chief Negotiator) Theresa May (Prime Minister) (November 2018 draft) Boris Johnson (Prime Minister) (October 2019 draft) Olly Robbins[a] (Prime Minister's Europe Adviser)[1] (2018 draft) David Frost (Prime Minister's Europe Adviser) (2019 draft) Steve Barclay (DExEU Secretary of State)[b]
Parties	European Union  United Kingdom
Full text
Draft Agreement on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union at Wikisource
^ Olly Robbins was appointed as the Prime Minister's Europe Advisor on 18 September 2017. He was previously the Brexit Department's first Permanent Secretary. ^ Other incumbents during the negotiations were David Davis (July 2016 to July 2018) and Dominic Raab (July 2018 to November 2018).

Part of a series of articles on
UK membership of the European Union (1973–2020)
Accession Treaty of Accession 1972 1972 EC Act 1973 enlargement of the EC
1975 referendum Referendum Act (results)
Treaty amendments Single European Act, 1986 (UK ratification) Maastricht Treaty, 1992 (UK ratification) Treaty of Amsterdam, 1997 (UK ratification) Treaty of Nice, 2001 (UK ratification) Treaty of Lisbon, 2007 (UK ratification) Related: 2011 UK Act on new EU Treaty amendments EU-related British Acts Proposed European Constitution referendum European Union Bill 2004–2005
MEPs for UK constituencies Members 1973–1979 (elected by parliament) Members 1979–1984 (1979 election) Members 1984–1989 (1984 election) Members 1989–1994 (1989 election) Members 1994–1999 (1994 election) Members 1999–2004 (1999 election) Members 2004–2009 (2004 election) Members 2009–2014 (2009 election) Members 2014–2019 (2014 election) Members 2019–2020 (2019 election) Women
Officials and bodies House of Lords EU Committee House of Commons EU Committee Permanent EU Representatives for UK Northern Ireland Executive in Brussels EU Representative in London UK European Commissioners Department for Exiting the European Union
Issues and events Economy The Euro Black Wednesday UK budget rebate Nationality law Euroscepticism in the UK United Kingdom opt-outs from EU legislation Maastricht Rebels Balance of Competences Review
Withdrawal 2015 UK general election 2015–2016 membership renegotiation 2016 EU membership referendum Vote Leave Britain Stronger in Europe Notification of withdrawal 2017 UK general election Brexit negotiations Impact of Brexit Future relationship Withdrawal agreement No-deal Brexit Impact on Irish border Northern Ireland Protocol Parliamentary votes Proposed second referendum 2019 UK general election
EU portal  UK portal
v t e

Between 2017 and 2019, representatives of the United Kingdom and the European Union negotiated the terms of Brexit, the UK's planned withdrawal from membership of the EU. These negotiations arose following the decision of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to invoke Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, following the UK's EU membership referendum on 23 June 2016.

The negotiating period began on 29 March 2017, when the United Kingdom served its withdrawal notice under Article 50. The withdrawal was then planned to occur on 29 March 2019, two years after the date of notification, as specified by Article 50.

Negotiations formally opened on 19 June 2017, when David Davis, the UK's Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, met Michel Barnier, the EU's Chief Negotiator.^[2] They began to discuss a withdrawal agreement, including terms of a transitional period and an outline of the objectives for a future UK–EU relationship.

In March and April 2019, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Theresa May and the European Council agreed to move the date of the UK's departure to 31 October 2019.^[3][4]

May resigned as leader of the ruling Conservative Party on 7 June 2019,^[5] and on 23 July, Boris Johnson was elected as her successor.^[6] The Johnson ministry and EU agreed to resume regular meetings to discuss the withdrawal agreement on 28 August 2019,^[7] but the UK declared a pre-condition that the Irish backstop must be scrapped, which the EU said it wouldn't accept.^[8][9]

In October 2019, following bilateral talks between Johnson and Leo Varadkar (his Irish counterpart),^[10] the UK and EU agreed to a revised deal, which replaced the backstop. In the new Northern Ireland protocol, the whole of the UK comes out of the EU Customs Union as a single customs territory. Northern Ireland will be included in any future UK trade deals, but it remains an entry point into the EU Customs Union, creating a de facto customs border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Following the 2019 UK general election, which returned a Conservative majority, the Withdrawal Agreement Bill and its programme motion passed first reading in the House of Commons.

The agreement was ratified by the UK, on 23 January 2020,^[11] and by the EU on 29 January 2020,^[12] confirming that a withdrawal agreement was in place when, as planned, the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020.

The withdrawal was followed by trade negotiation between the UK and the EU, which resulted in the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), signed on 30 December 2020.