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World

Is there a Brexit deal?

24 December 2020

7:59 AM

24 December 2020

7:59 AM

Tonight we are still waiting for confirmation that a Brexit deal has been done. But the noises coming out of both London and Brussels are optimistic — something would have to go wrong for there not to be a deal. However, it currently looks like there will be one more late night in Brussels before Brexit is done.

The pace at which things have moved today has been surprising; I was not expecting a deal today last night. But there is now a broad expectation that an agreement will emerge tonight or tomorrow morning. The European Research Group of Tory MPs have announced that they are convening their panel of legal experts to pass judgement on the text and Nigel Farage has already accused the government of a ‘fisheries sell out’.

We will have to wait to see the deal to know who has moved on what. But what is certain is that this will be a very different Brexit from the one that Theresa May was trying to achieve with her Chequers plan. It will be one that accepts more friction at the borders, albeit with zero tariffs and zero quotas, for far greater regulatory freedom.

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