Members of the European Parliament have overwhelmingly backed the terms of the UK’s departure from the EU.
MEPs ratified the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement by 621 votes to 49 following an emotional debate in Brussels.
After the vote, MEPs marked the UK’s exit by singing Auld Lang Syne.
The UK is due to leave the bloc at 23:00 GMT on Friday.
To enter into force, the Withdrawal Agreement will now be put to a final vote by qualified majority in the Council.
The transition period starting on 1 February is set to expire at the end of December 2020. Any agreement on the future EU-UK relationship will have to be fully concluded before that point if it is to come into force on 1 January 2021.
The transition period can be extended once for one to two years, but the decision to do so must be taken by the EU-UK Joint Committee before 1 July.
Parliament will have to approve any future relationship agreement. If such an agreement refers to competences that the EU shares with member states, then national parliaments will also need to ratify it.
