Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill 2024-25
MPs will debate the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill at second reading on Monday 10 February 2025.

Parliament has been recalled to adopt the legislation required to implement the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement. This briefing provides an overview of the Agreement and the Bill to implement it
The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement: summary and implementation (1 MB , PDF)
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With a week to go until the end of the Brexit transition period, the UK and EU announced the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) on 24 December. The deal will cover the future UK-EU relationship, with the two parties aiming to implement it in time for the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December. Alongside the TCA, the UK and EU also agreed the Nuclear Cooperation Agreement (NCA) and the Security of Classified Information Agreement (SCIA).
On the UK side, the Government published the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill on 29 December. The purpose of the Bill is to implement the provisions of the TCA, NCA and SCIA in domestic law.
Parts 1 and 2 of the Bill implement specific parts of the agreements, including on security, trade, transport and social security. It does this by amending parts of UK law, creating powers to make regulations and, in the case of social security, incorporating parts of the TCA directly into UK law.
Part 3 of the Bill covers general implementation. It has two key components. First, it creates broad powers for the UK Government and devolved authorities to make regulations to implement the agreements. These regulations can do anything that primary legislation can do, subject to certain limitations (Henry VIII powers). Second, to the extent that the Government or devolved authorities have not taken steps to implement the agreements, there is a general provision that says all existing domestic law is modified to ensure the UK is complying with its obligations under the TCA and SCIA. While the modifications will not appear in the text of the law, the courts will need to treat the law as if it has been amended. This does not apply to domestic laws enacted or made after the agreements become provisionally applied.
Finally, the Bill disapplies the relevant provisions of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 for the TCA, NCA and SCIA. This normally provides that a treaty cannot be ratified until it has been laid before Parliament and 21 sitting days have passed.
Parliament has been recalled on 30 December to approve the legislation. The Bill is scheduled to go through all of its Commons and Lords stages before 31 December so that, if passed, it can receive Royal Assent before the end of the transition period.
On the EU side, the TCA will require unanimous approval in the Council of the EU (Member State Government representatives) and European Parliament consent prior to ratification. There is not enough time for the European Parliament to scrutinise and approve the TCA before the end of the year. However, the European Commission proposed provisional application of the TCA prior to ratification.
The Council of the EU approved provisional application on 29 December. The European Commission proposal for ratification initially envisaged a Parliament consent vote prior to conclusion of the Agreement by the end of February 2021. However, the European Parliament is considering a longer period of scrutiny with a consent vote in March.
Key features of the TCA include the following:
The UK Government has published a summary explainer, alongside the full text of the agreement (and additional agreements).
The European Commission has published a set of explanatory materials, including a Q&A.
Institute for Government summary of the agreement
UK in a Changing Europe commentary
Scottish Parliament Information Centre summary of the agreement
Initial analysis from Institute for Public Policy Research
Collection of Twitter threads from different experts
Politico, 10 key details in the UK-EU trade deal, 27 December 2020
Financial Times, Brexit trade deal explained: the key parts of the landmark agreement, 25 December 2020
Fusacchia, Luca Salvatici and L. Alan Winters, The Costs of Brexit, UK Trade Policy Observatory, University of Sussex, Briefing Paper 51, December 2020
EY, Explainer: What the Brexit deal means for business
George Peretz, The subsidy control provisions of the UK-EU trade and cooperation agreement: a framework for a new UK domestic subsidy regime, 28 December 2020
UK in a Changing Europe, What does the trade deal mean for fisheries?, 27 December 2020
BBC Reality Check, Will the EHIC still be valid after Brexit?, 28 December 2020
Nuffield Trust, Brexit deal reduces uncertainty for health and care but major difficulties remain, 24 December 2020
For an overview of the UK-EU negotiations see Commons Library Briefing paper 9101 The UK-EU trade and co-operation agreement: the path to the deal. See also Commons Library papers on the UK-EU future relationship negotiations covering different sectors and Library briefings on the end of the transition period, what a potential deal might cover and the impact of not having a deal.
The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement: summary and implementation (1 MB , PDF)
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