Three years ago, the British people passed a referendum stating that they wanted their government to withdraw from the European Union. The British people were tired of having a European bureaucracy micromanage their lives, control their immigration policies, and generally erase their sovereignty. The British political class, however, was less enthused. Being part of the E.U. gave them a cachet of sophistication, while simultaneously allowing them to govern without being actually responsible.

For three long years, Theresa May dithered and danced, never coming to grips with the fact that the people wanted a divorce while the E.U. wanted a long, painful, nasty separation, with endless custody battles. Finally, May's government collapsed in July, and the people got a second chance at Brexit with an election that saw Boris Johnson become prime minister.

A lot of people were worried, though, that Johnson, a brilliant gadfly, would fail them as well. They need not have feared.

On Wednesday, both Houses of Parliament approved the final E.U. Withdrawal Agreement. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, unsurprisingly, was quite relieved:

Boris Johnson promised a "bright, exciting future" after history was made with the passing of his Brexit Bill by both houses of Parliament on Wednesday night. The Withdrawal Agreement Bill will become law when it receives royal assent, confirming Britain's exit from the EU on Jan 31. The Prime Minister said: "At times, it felt like we would never cross the Brexit finish line, but we've done it." Having cleared Parliament, the new law will have to be ratified by the European Parliament in a vote that will take place on Jan 29, thought a formality. The Bill cleared its final Parliamentary hurdle at 6.17 pm when the House of Lords bowed to the will of the Commons, which had overturned every amendment by peers this week.

The E.U., liked the scorned spouse, is reputedly planning to punish Britain for having the temerity to break off the relationship:

While the EU has agreed to Britain leaving the bloc, news reports suggest that Brussels intends to punish its leading trading partner and Europe's second-largest economy. "EU preparing to give UK worse trade deal terms than Canada or Japan," The Telegraph reported on Monday. Brussels is planning to hit Britain where it hurts the most. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, has drawn up a hit list to target the British financial sector for defying the EU to dictate regulations following the Brexit. "Commission officials told European Union diplomats they had identified 40 different types of financial services that could be frozen out of the EU's market at a meeting in Brussels earlier this week," The Telegraph disclosed in a separate report. The EU's wrath has been intensified by the British government's refusal to align itself to the EU laws after January 31. The EU Withdrawal Bill "paves the way for a new agreement on our future relationship with our European neighbors based on an ambitious free trade agreement … with no alignment on EU rules, but instead control of our own laws." Johnson said last month after resoundingly winning the general election fought on those lines.

Despite that gloom-and-doom prediction, it may be Britain that has the last laugh. According to the Times:

Britain's economy will grow faster than those of other major European countries this year as chief executives regard it as an increasingly attractive place to invest, two studies have found. Amid growing optimism over Britain's economic outlook, the International Monetary Fund said that it would outperform the eurozone this year and next. Assuming there is an orderly Brexit at the end of the month, and a gradual transition to a new relationship with the bloc, growth would accelerate from 1.3 per cent last year to 1.4 per cent this year and 1.5 per cent in 2021, it said. Of the G7 advanced economies only the United States and Canada would grow faster in the next two years[.]

When America won its revolution against Britain, the latter originally intended to break off trade relationships with America. Britain backed off from the plan, though, and, within three years, trade between the two countries was exceeding pre-war levels. America and Britain became major trading partners once again — although this time, America was an equal partner, not a vassal. Now, 236 years later, Britain will find itself Europe's equal, not its vassal, and both should thrive.