Brexit deal: What will change now for UK and EU

On December 30, British MPs overwhelmingly approved the UK's post-Brexit trade deal with the EU in a parliamentary vote.

The UK and the EU’s newly-minted trade pact will shape their relationship for years to come. Some four-and-a-half years after a slim majority of Britons voted to take the United Kingdom out of the European Union’s orbit, the UK and the EU finally signed a historic trade deal on December 24.

The 660 billion pounds ($900bn)-a-year pact will determine the terms of the pair’s relationship from 2021 onwards and was reached after months of missed deadlines, acrimonious posturing and fraught negotiations marred by divisions over fishing rights, competition rules and governance issues.

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UK MPs’ approval

On December 30, British MPs overwhelmingly approved the UK’s post-Brexit trade deal with the EU in a parliamentary vote. A bill bringing the deal into UK law was backed by the Commons by 521 to 73 votes after Parliament was recalled. The UK will sever its ties with the EU at 23.00 GMT on Thursday, four and a half years after the Brexit referendum.

But the EU Parliament has ruled out rushing through ratification anytime soon. The legislative body will instead analyse the pact before deciding whether to approve it in 2021. This process is unlikely to stop the deal coming into effect on January 1. EU diplomats began assessing the deal on Friday – Christmas Day – and are expected to take two or three days to weigh its terms.

What will change on January 1?

The deal will ensure goods can continue to travel between the UK and the EU without tariffs or quotas from the beginning of 2021, smoothing trade worth hundreds of billions of pounds – and euros – a year between the pair.

It is supplemented by other agreements on a range of other issues including energy, transport, and police and security cooperation. But even with the deal settled, some friction will affect UK-EU trade from January 1.

More rules and increased bureaucracy will come into effect once the UK sits outside of the bloc’s single market and customs union, and analysts warn they are unlikely to result in “smooth sailing” ahead.

Brexit as it happened…

Dec 24: UK-EU seal post-Brexit trade deal

Dec 28: EU member States meet and analyse agreement, decide whether to approve provisional implementation

Dec 30: UK parliament votes on the deal. The opposition says it will back the deal

Dec 31: Brexit transition period ends midnight.

January 1: “Big changes” including end of free movement of persons, goods, services and capital between the UK and the EU. European Parliament due to approve deal sometime early in the year

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