Brexit: Euro MPs' vote bolsters EU-UK trade deal

BRUSSELS - Two key European Parliament committees have overwhelmingly approved the UK's post-Brexit trade deal with the EU, bringing its ratification closer.

The wide-ranging EU- UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement was clinched on December 24. It is in force provisionally.

The EU still has concerns about the way the UK is implementing the separate protocol for Northern Ireland.

MEPs are yet to vote on the trade deal in a full session. The deadline for that is the end of this month.

There were 108 votes in favour, one against and four abstentions in the parliament's trade and foreign affairs committees.

Why does matter?

There was relief on both sides when the deal was finally struck before Christmas, because a no-deal scenario on January 1 would have meant the imposition of many tariffs (import taxes) and quotas under World Trade Organisation ( WTO) rules.

Even with the deal, Brexit has brought extra paperwork and other administrative costs for UK and EU businesses. But without the deal the costs would have been greater, along with disruption to transport and various other EU-UK links.

The EU is in a legal row with the UK because the UK government unilaterally extended a series of "grace periods" to ease trade bethe trade deal tween Britain and Northern Ireland.

Under the protocol, new EU checks are to be imposed on that trade, but the UK's move has delayed them.

The controversial protocol, which followed years of legal wrangling, is designed to keep Northern Ireland inside the EU's single market for goods.

But as Britain is now outside, various bureaucratic hurdles have arisen. And that has fuelled political tensions. The protocol is seen as a factor in the recent street clashes in Belfast.

The different rules are aimed at maintaining an open border - and smooth trade - between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which remains in the EU.