Brexit deal: What did Boris Johnson announce in press conference?
AFTER months of negotiations, the UK and EU have agreed a post-Brexit trade deal.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson set out the details of the agreement at a press conference this afternoon. Here’s what he said.
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What did Boris Johnson announce?
Talks over the post-Brexit trade deal are said to have continued overnight, with the final details still being agreed this morning.
Speaking from Downing Street this afternoon, Boris Johnson said: “It’s four and a half years since the British people voted to take back control of their money, their borders, their laws, and their waters and to leave the European Union.
“I’m very please to tell you this afternoon that we have completed [our] biggest trade deal yet, worth £660billion a year.”
He said the deal was a “comprehensive, Canada-style deal between the UK and the EU” that would “protect jobs across this country” while allowing UK goods to be sold “without tariffs and without quotas in the EU market”.
He continued: “And yet… we’ve taken back control of our laws and our destiny. We’ve taken back control of every jot and tittle of our regulation in a way that is complete, and from January 1 we are outside the customs union and outside the single market.
“British laws will be made solely by the British parliament, interpreted by UK judges sitting in UK courts, and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice will come to an end.”
He said that the share of fish in British waters that British fishermen are allowed to catch would rise from roughly half today to “closer to two thirds” in five and a half years’ time.
He said, after that transition period, there would be “no theoretical limit, beyond those placed by science or conservation, on the quantity of our own fish that we can fish in our waters”.
He also said that fishing communities would receive £100million in funding to help modernise their fleets before the end of the transition.
The prime minister went on to address the other nations of the European Union.
“I want to stress that, although the arguments with our European friends and partners were sometimes fierce, this is, I believe, a good deal for the whole of Europe, ” he said.
“It will not be a bad thing, in my view, for the EU to have a prosperous and dynamic and contented UK on your doorstep.
“I don’t think it will be a bad thing if we in the UK do things differently or take a different approach to legislation, because in so many ways our basic goals are the same.
“In the context of this free trade zone… the stimulus of regulatory competition will, I think, benefit us both.”
He added that the UK would be “your friend, your ally, your supporter, and indeed, never let it be forgotten, your number one market”.
“Although we have left the EU, this country will remain – culturally, emotionally, historically, strategically, geologically – attached to Europe,” he said.
He also thanked European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and all the negotiating teams involved in reaching the deal.
What did the EU say?
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen also held a press conference this afternoon.
Confirming news of the deal, she said: “The European Union has shown unity over this time.
“[There are] million people, the biggest single market in the world, and we were able to rely on these assets.”
She went on to outline the key components of the agreement and what it will mean for the European Union.
“Firstly, competition in our single market will be fair and will remain so. We have effective tools to react if fair competition is distorted and impacts our trade,” she said.
“Secondly, we will continue cooperating with the UK in all areas of mutual interests. For example, in the fields of climate change, energy, security, and transport.
“Together we still achieved more than we do apart.
“Thirdly, we have secured five and a half years of full predictability for our fishing communities.”
She concluded: “I know this is a difficult day for some, and to our friends in the UK, I want to say: parting is such sweet sorrow.
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“To all Europeans, I say it is time to leave Brexit behind. Our future is made in Europe.”
The EU’s chief negotiator Michael Barnier said that the deal would preserve peace and stability in Ireland, protect the single market, and help build a new partnership with the UK.
He added that the “clock is no longer ticking”.