A new dawn: Boris Johnson will say that Brexit is ‘not an end, but a beginning’ while hailing a new era and promising to transform neglected regions of Britain

Boris Johnson will deliver a plea for the country to move on from Brexit as the UK finally leaves the EU tonight.

In an address to be broadcast shortly before Britain’s departure at 11pm, the Prime Minister will insist that Brexit marks ‘not an end but a beginning’.

And in a sign of the new Government’s changed approach, he will convene a symbolic Cabinet meeting this afternoon in Sunderland, the first city to declare for Brexit when the 2016 referendum results came out.

Tonight he will stress his belief that the referendum was a vote not just to leave the EU, but also for lasting change in neglected areas of the country. Mr Johnson will describe Brexit as ‘the moment when the dawn breaks and the curtain goes up on a new act’.

He will go on: ‘It is a moment of real national renewal and change. This is the dawn of a new era in which we no longer accept that your life chances – your family’s life chances – should depend on which part of the country you grow up in.’

At 11pm – midnight on the Continent – Britain will legally leave the EU and enter a ‘transition period’ which runs until December 31. During this time the UK will remain subject to EU laws and free movement of people will continue.

MORE: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7949307/A-new-dawn-UK-finally-leaves-EU-11pm-TONIGHT.html