A video grab from footage broadcast by the UK Parliament’s Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) shows members of parliament filing back into the House of Commons in London/ AFP

Britain’s newly-elected parliament on Friday gave its initial backing to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit divorce deal with the European Union.

Following a thumping general election win for Johnson’s Conservatives in last week’s snap general election — called to clear the Brexit impasse — MPs voted by 358 to 234 to clear the Withdrawal Agreement Bill through its first hurdle in the House of Commons. (AFP)