Brexit: EU diplomats will receive a trade agreement briefing

EU ambassadors will receive a Christmas Day briefing on the post-Brexit trade agreement with the United Kingdom.

Michel Bernier, the European Union's chief negotiator, will update diplomats on the deal after months of misguided discussions on fisheries rights and trade rules.

The UK will move abroad on 31 December from EU business rules - 2 officially - one year after the country officially leaves the bloc.

Members of parliament are waiting to see the full text of the free trade agreement before the vote in parliament on December 30.

Labor says it is a “thin deal” but they will support it as the only alternative to any deal, which means it must win approval.

The agreement needs to be ratified by the European Parliament, but it is unlikely to do so until the new year, meaning its application will remain in effect until then.


Lord Frost, the UK's chief trade negotiator, said the treaty, which consisted of about 1,500 pages - an estimated 1,000 pages of attachments and footnotes - would be published soon.

In a Christmas video message posted on Twitter on Thursday evening, Prime Minister Boris Johnson handed over a draft copy of the document.
Brexit: EU diplomats will receive a trade agreement briefing
He said: "Tonight, the day before Christmas, I have a little present for anyone looking for something to read at a sleeping Christmas lunch, and here's the good news, the good news because it's a deal.

"An agreement to ensure business, travel, and all investors in our country from January 1 is an agreement with our friends and partners in the EU."

Earlier, in a Downing Street press conference shortly after the agreement was announced, Mr Johnson said: "We have regained control of our law and destiny," but stressed that the United Kingdom "will remain culturally, emotionally, historically, strategically and geographically connected to Europe."

At a news conference in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the agreement was "fair" and "balanced" and that it was time to "turn the page and look to the future." The UK “remains a faithful partner,” he added.

The agreement comes four-and-a-half years after the UK voted to leave the European Union and will define future relations for decades to come.

Trade-in duty-free and quota-free goods will continue and there will be independent arbitration to resolve future disputes.

This would mean a big change for business, the UK and the EU would form two separate markets and free movement would come to an end.

But it will come as a great relief to many British businesses, already vulnerable to the effects of the coronavirus, who feared border derailment and tariffs, or imposed tariffs on imports.

Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer - who campaigned against Brexit - said his party would vote in favor of the deal in the Commons.

He said the job "does not provide adequate protection" for jobs, manufacturing, financial services, or workplace rights and "not what the government promised".

But with no time left to rebuild, the only choice was "not this deal or any other deal."

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