The protracted and sometimes bitter divorce between Britain and the European Union ended Thursday in an economic collapse that makes the EU smaller and the UK freer, but more isolated in a turbulent world.
Britain left the vast European single market at 11pm (London time) or at midnight in Brussels, completing the biggest economic shift the country has seen since World War II. A new trade deal between the UK and the EU will bring its own restrictions and red tape, but for UK Brexiters, the new deal means regaining national independence.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose support for Brexit helped drive the country out of the EU, said it was “an incredible moment for this country.”
“We are in control of our freedom, and it is up to us to make the most of it,” he said in a video New Year’s message.
The split comes 11 months after a political Brexit that left both parties in limbo with a ‘transition period’ as a divorced couple still living together, arguing and wondering if they can stay friends. Now the UK has finally moved on.
It was a day some had longed for and others feared since Britain approved in a 2016 referendum to leave the EU, but it had little climax. UK lockdown measures to curb coronavirus infections reduced mass rallies to celebrate or mourn the moment, although Parliament’s great bell, Big Ben, rang 11 times an hour as it prepared to ring in the new year midnight.
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A free trade agreement signed on Christmas Eve after months of tense negotiations ensures that Britain and the 27 countries of the EU can continue to buy and sell goods without tariffs or quotas. This should help protect the 660 billion pounds ($ 894 billion) in annual trade between the two parties and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that depend on it.
But businesses are faced with a slew of new costs and paperwork, including customs declarations and border controls. Traders are struggling to follow the new rules imposed by a 1,200-page trade deal agreed just a week before the split.
The English Channel port of Dover and the Eurotunnel passenger and freight route braced themselves for the delays the new measures would cause, although the coronavirus pandemic and a holiday weekend meant that traffic through the Channel La Manche was light, with only a few trucks taking arrived at the border posts of Calais, France in late 2020. The vital supply route turned a swamp for days after France closed its border to truck drivers from the Kingdom. United for 48 hours last week in response to the presence of a new variant of the coronavirus identified in England.
The UK government insisted that “the border systems and infrastructure we need are in place and that we are ready for the UK’s new start”.
But the truck companies held their breath. Youngs Transportation in the UK has suspended services to the EU until January 11 “to get things sorted.”
“We think the country will have a week or so to get used to all these new entry and exit systems, and we can take a look and hope to fix any issues before actually shipping our trucks,” said company director Rob Hollyman .
The services sector, which makes up 80% of the UK economy, does not even know what the rules will be for doing business with the EU in 2021 as many details have yet to be finalized. Months and years of bickering and bickering lie ahead on a number of issues, from fair competition to fishing quotas, as Britain and the EU enter their new relationship as friends, neighbors and rivals.
Hundreds of millions of people in Britain and the bloc are also facing changes in their daily lives. British and EU citizens have lost the automatic right to live and work in each other’s territory. From now on, they will have to follow immigration rules and get work visas. Tourists don’t need visas for short trips, but new headaches – from travel insurance to pet paperwork – are looming over Britons visiting the continent.