UK Clinches Brexit Trade Deal With EU, Just Days Before Deadline

File image of UK PM Boris Johnson. 

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

The United Kingdom reached a historic Brexit trade deal with the European Union on Thursday, 24 December.

"The deal is done," tweeted UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The announcement comes just days before the key deadline of 31 December.

"Deal is done. We have taken back control of our money, borders, laws, trade and our fishing waters," a Downing Street source was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters.

According to AFP, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission said: “We have finally found an agreement.”

“It was a long and winding road, but we have a good deal at the end of it.”

Ursula von der Leyen further reportedly said: "The single market will be fair and remain so."

BACKGROUND

The UK left the EU on 31 January 2020, following a divisive and contentious referendum in 2016. UK will also leave the bloc’s single market and customs union on 31 December, until which London remains bound by EU’s rules, reported AFP.

The agreement, which reportedly runs across 2,000 pages, was held up by some last-minute haggling over the access EU fishermen will get to Britain’s waters.

The EU member states, according to AFP, are expected to take two or three days to analyse the agreement and take a call on the approval of its provisional implementation.

The UK parliament will also vote on the deal before the 31 December cut-off, following which it will have to be signed off and then published in EU’s official journal.

(With inputs from Reuters and AFP.)