Image source, PA Media

That's all from us this evening.

The Assembly will meet again tomorrow to discuss the return of schools following the Christmas holidays.

We'll keep you up to date with coverage of that on the BBC News NI website.

But from us, good evening.

The amended motion is carried 47-38 votes.

The speaker closes proceedings by thanking the staff at Stormont, particularly as many had to give up Christmas leave to be there.

He also thanks the MLAs describing the debate as healthy and mature which he says reflects the complexity of the issues debated.

He then adjourned proceedings.

The SDLP amendment proposed by Nichola Mallon and Matthew O'Toole - Amendment 4 - is carried: 49 to 38.

On the announcement Nichola Mallon urges the speaker to write to the Westminster government saying the NI Assembly has rejected Brexit.

Speaker Maskey replies that this is his intention.

Now members are to vote on the new amended motion.

Here we go again as the DUP amendment has also been voted down: 49 - 37.

We now move to the fourth amendment which has been proposed by the SDLP.

In case you think the numbers of votes are at variance with the number of MLAs actually present, you'd be right.

As the speaker made clear, there is a system for proxy voting so that social distancing measures can be maintained.

Steve Aiken's amendment has also been voted down: 49 votes to 38.

We now move to the third amendment which comes from the DUP.

Amendment One has not passed; the votes were 26 in favour, 38 against and 22 abstentions.

So we now move to Amendment two proposed by Steve Aiken of the UUP.

The vote is underway and members are urged to remember to socially distance themselves.

Amendment One has now gone to the vote. If this amendment is passed then the other three amendments fall.

Here is the wording of the main motion: That this Assembly takes note of the Trade and Co-operation Agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

And here is the first amendment: Insert after ‘Assembly’: ‘asserts our opposition to leaving the European Union; calls for the full implementation of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland to mitigate some of the most negative impacts of Brexit; and’

You can find all the amendments at the Assembly website.

Image source, bbc

Michelle O'Neill continues her remarks, now speaking in her position as vice-president of Sinn Féin.

"For over four years now we have regrettably been exposed to the worst kind of political discourse from Westminster," says Ms O'Neill.

She said the Conservative party have "no interest" for people in Northern Ireland.

"Brexit has caused huge division, caused instability, caused uncertainty and it has caused fear."

The minister said it has "stretched" British-Irish relations.

Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill begins by saying it is "evident there is widespread difference across this house" in relation to the decision to leave the EU.

Ms O'Neill says it was "in no one's interest" to leave the EU without a deal in place.

"The conclusion of the negotiations and this agreement marks the end of one phase but it certainly opens up the beginning of another," says the minister.

"The lateness of both this agreement and of the joint committee decisions on the protocol present an enormous challenge for our businesses and for society in knowing exactly what they need to be prepared for."

The minister says "clear guidance and communication will "be vital" in this next period to make sure the "impact is minimised".

Sinn Féin MLA John O'Dowd shifts the responsibility for the Brexit agreement back to the DUP's door.

"Those who promoted Brexit, who promised a new beginning after Brexit, and sat with farmers in kitchens and said they'd get rid of all this European red tape, that their profits would soar and they'd be selling meat products around the world with less regulations, own the fact that those farmers are now going to be less well off than they were before Brexit," says Mr O'Dowd.

"Those who told businesses their products would be sold in free trade deals around the world are responsible for those businesses now being less well off. So you own it all."

He accuses the DUP of having made "a fundamental political error" in 2016, when they decided to support Brexit.

"When the DUP decided to support Brexit and became advocates of a hard Brexit, did they ever consider what impact that would have on the island of Ireland?" he asks.

UUP MLA Mike Nesbitt focuses his remarks on the impact of the trade deal on NI's fishing industry.

"The fishing industry decimated over the decades that we were bound over the common fisheries policy," says Mr Nesbitt.

He calls for the house to lobby for the £100m promised by Boris Johnson for the fishing industry to not be allocated via the Barnett Formula.

In which case, "all we'll be able to afford is a new boat", he says.

"It takes £20m-£40m to modernise a port like Portavogie."

Mr Nesbitt requests the house "acknowledges the hurt" of the fishing industry and "listen to their positive asks of making the most of a bad deal".

DUP MLA Christopher Stalford opted for a 1988 Thatcher quote rather than Churchill.

"We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state, only to see them re-imposed at a European level," he tells the chamber.

"Unfortunately, this deal does that - it re-imposes bureaucracy upon us and re-imposes the frontiers of the state."

Mr Stalford says Sinn Féin, SDLP and Alliance Party MLAs in the assembly were responsible for the border in the Irish Sea "in order to prevent checks on the land".

"You campaigned for this, you delivered it, you own it - not us," he said.

The SDLP's Matthew O'Toole says the UK has spent the past four and a half years constructing a relationship with the EU that will "make it poorer, less influential, and markedly less safe" as he begins his remarks.

"It is the greatest single act of self-harm in the history of modern states," says Mr O'Toole.

He says the deal will see "marked disruption to our economy and to our lives".

"This is a bad deal for everyone, everyone in the UK and everyone in Northern Ireland," he adds.

John Blair of the Alliance Party says there are "serious concerns around issues such as the European Arrest Warrant and the tight timeframe involved in trying to fix data management arrangements within six months".

The Policing Board member says Brexit will have "a significant impact on policing capacity and resources".

He maintains Alliance remains strongly pro-European and was never prepared to "give legitimacy to a hard Brexit".

"We will continue to advocate the closest possible relationship between Northern Ireland and the EU... and will explore all opportunities to rejoin the EU."

UUP MLA Roy Beggs says he finds the NI protocol offensive as he addresses the chamber.

"I find it offensive as a unionist, I find it offensive as it breaches the Belfast Agreement on consent," he said.

He says "no one can argue" that the constitutional position of NI within the UK "will be different".

"It is for that reason that I am very, very sore," he adds.

He had little involvement so far in the debate but the speaker was quick to stamp his authority on proceedings when required.

Gerry Carroll was chastised by Alex Maskey for suggesting that his amendment proposing a rejection of the agreement was not accepted because "only amendments from the executive parties were deemed acceptable".

Mr Maskey asked the People Before Profit MLA to take his seat.

"I want to strongly advise you - I know you don't have much good to say about this institution and that's fair enough, that's entirely your opinion and perhaps your mandate, but you're here long enough to know the rules," said Mr Maskey.

"Do not be questioning the speaker's intention or motivation for accepting or rejecting amendments," he added, stressing that Mr Carroll's amendment was dealt with "with the same integrity as every other amendment".

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll opens by insisting he will not quote Winston Churchill, who he describes as "an imperial butcher who believed the British Empire was superior to the people here and those it colonised across the world".

He says the prospect of a no-deal Brexit was "deeply troubling for many" but that the trade deal being debated at Westminster by "posh, rich, Tory MPs is not a good deal for working class people here in Ireland".

"We in this assembly should use this opportunity to collectively reject this deal," he adds.

"The Tory vision of exiting the EU was a fantasy vision to bolster the British Empire and they were happy to use racism in order to advance it."

TUV leader Jim Allister reminds the chamber that Friday marks 220 years since the "activation of the Act of Union" as he begins his remarks.

Mr Allister says that Article Six of that act states there would be free and frictionless trade from which every citizen could benefit.

"Sadly, on this 1 January, Article Six of the Act of Union will be trashed," says Mr Allister.

"The [Nothern Ireland] Protocol is a dire consequence for every citizen in Northern Ireland, we will all live through those dire consequences."

Green Party leader Clare Bailey says there is little in the bill that will lessen the impact of an Irish Sea Border.

The South Belfast MLA complains that members have had "no proper scrutiny time, no proper access to relevant papers, so I'm somewhat relieved that here today, the recall of this assembly is simply to debate a non-binding motion and not to vote anything through, since this deal was done less than a week ago and contains massive changes for people's livelihoods and business".

She says: "We have no power in this process and neither has the Irish government."

Alliance MLA Andrew Muir begins by saying the "almost inevitable" passing of the trade deal by Westminster will result in a "vastly different and new future for Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK".

Mr Muir says he is "saddened greatly" that in the year that "passionate, pro-European" John Hume died, "we are set on a course away from the EU and the benefits that it offers".

He says while an exit from the EU on the basis of the agreed deal is "vastly better" than a no deal exit, it "remains a fact that no matter how it's constructed Brexit is bad for Northern Ireland".

"It has triggered active, serious discussions about the constitutional future of both Scotland and Northern Ireland."