A no-deal Brexit has seemingly been avoided.
A trade deal between the United Kingdom and European Union has been agreed just days before the 31 December deadline, which otherwise would have seen the UK crash out of the common market and on to World Trade Organisation trading terms.
Deal done on #Brexit! 🎅🏼
— Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) December 24, 2020
Posting on Twitter on Thursday, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said that the deal ensures there will be no hard border in Ireland and that the Good Friday Agreement and the Peace Process has been protected.
Coveney added that the single market and Ireland’s place in it is safe, that there will be no tarriffs or quotas on trade and that it will mark a fresh start in the relationship between the EU and the United Kingdom.
Deal Done! 4yrs work to protect #Ireland & #EU through #Brexit. Certainty at last:
☑️ No return to hard border
☑️ The GFA & Peace Process is protected
☑️ The single market is safe & #Irelands place in it
☑️ No tariffs or quotas on trade
☑️ A fresh start for U.K. relations🇮🇪🇪🇺🇬🇧
— Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) December 24, 2020
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that the Brexit deal is very welcome after four long years of negotiations and that while the United Kingdom will be missed from the EU, the deal allows both sides to focus on how to manage the relationship in the years ahead.
#Brexit deal is very welcome after four long years of negotiations. Thanks to @vonderleyen & @MichelBarnier & team. While we will miss the UK from the European Union, the fact that a deal is now in place means we can focus on how we manage good relationship in the years ahead.
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) December 24, 2020
The UK Parliament will be recalled to vote on the agreement on Wednesday 30 December. Labour leader Keir Starmer is understood to be instructing his shadow cabinet to back the deal.
Some hardline Brexiteers will potentially be disappointed with the terms of the UK’s future trading relationship with the EU, particularly regarding fisheries, but even Brexit leader Nigel Farage signalled his satisfaction with the deal.
Speaking on TalkRadio before the deal was officially announced, Farage said: “[Boris Johnson] has done what he said he’d do on the big picture.
“On the detail, such as we’ll be back in charge of our fisheries, history may judge some of those aspects a little more harshly. But on the big stuff, the war is over.”
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