UK, EU agree Brexit deal

Britain and the European Union finally agreed a trade deal on Thursday, after four-and-a-half years of tortured negotiations.

The deal means Britain leaves the single market and customs union on December 31 and will now be subject to different arrangements covering tariff-free trade in goods. The pound was up 0.3% against the dollar at $1.35, with gains largely factored in before the announcement.

After suggestions on Wednesday that an agreement was "imminent", the two sides found themselves haggling over the economically immaterial, but politically symbolic, issue of fishing rights. Talks were delayed further when it was discovered the EU had been using out of date figures.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson European commission president Ursula von der Leyen spoke by telephone to confirm acceptance of the proposals, which run to 2,000 pages.

The agreement covers trade in goods and services, and a broad range of other areas in the EU's interest, such as investment, competition, State aid, tax transparency, air and road transport, energy and sustainability, fisheries, data protection, and social security coordination.

"It provides for zero tariffs and zero quotas on all goods that comply with the appropriate rules of origin," the European Commission said in a statement.

It added that both parties had "committed to ensuring a robust level playing field ... with effective, domestic enforcement, a binding dispute settlement mechanism and the possibility for both parties to take remedial measures".

On fishing, a new framework for the joint management of stocks in EU and UK waters, with the UK able to further develop its fishing activities, "while the activities and livelihoods of European fishing communities will be safeguarded, and natural resources preserved".

“It was worth fighting for this deal because we now have a fair and balanced agreement with the UK, which will protect our European interests, ensure fair competition, and provide much needed predictability for our fishing communities. Finally, we can leave Brexit behind us and look to the future. Europe is now moving on," von der Leyen said.

The UK government, predictably, hailed the deal as a victory, epitomised by the hard-right mantra enthusiastically taken up by Johnson of "taking back control".

However, while von der Leyen expressed a defiant tone of her own, citing the American - British poet TS Eliot: "What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning."

"So to all Europeans I say: It is time to leave Brexit behind. Our future is made in Europe," she said.

"Of course, this whole debate has always been about sovereignty. But we should cut through the soundbites and ask ourselves what sovereignty actually means in the 21st century. For me, it is about being able to seamlessly do work, travel, study and do business in 27 countries. It is about pooling our strength and speaking together in a world full of great powers."

"And in a time of crisis it is about pulling each other up – instead of trying to get back to your feet alone. The European Union shows how this works in practice."

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said the deal "protects consumers on both sides of the Channel from billions in import tariffs on everyday goods".

"Given that four-fifths of UK food imports come from the EU, today’s announcement should afford households around the UK a collective sigh of relief," she said.

“The UK and EU Governments have taken a crucially important step in agreeing a zero-tariff agreement, to the benefit of customers all over Europe. They must now work to implement this new arrangement as soon as possible, ensuring there are no tariffs from Day 1, and finding new ways to reduce the checks and red tape that we’ll see from the 1st January."