Kernel Monsoon posted:

So where is the deal? When do we find out all the terrible concessions the UK made at the last second?

Guavanaut posted:

endlessmonotony posted:

So the Brexit deal is Cameron's deal, except Frankfurt and Paris get the financial sector of London, UK no longer gets a seat at the EU table and Britain sacrificed a massive amount of money to the uncertainty?

Gort posted:

I think you'll find our service and financial sectors are small potatoes compared to growing our fishing quota by 25%

Apraxin posted:

https://twitter.com/pourmecoffee/status/1342132159491006464
What more information could you need?

Jakabite posted:

If anyone has an FT sub, could you post their analysis of the deal in here? They’re basically the only trustworthy British news source because they have to be because rich people make decisions based on their reporting.

quote:

How UK-EU trade deal will change relations between Britain and Brussels
Centrepiece of historic accord is a trade agreement, plus co-operation on fighting crime and terrorism

December 24, 2020

The future relationship deal struck between the UK and the EU will bring far-reaching changes, as both sides are forced to adapt to the end of Britain’s 30-year membership of the European single market.

The trade agreement between London and Brussels will offer UK and EU companies preferential access to each other’s markets, compared with basic World Trade Organization rules — ensuring imported goods will be free of tariffs and quotas.

But economic relations between the UK and the EU from January 1, when the deal is due to take effect, will be on more restricted terms than they are now.

A trade agreement along the lines of the one negotiated between the two sides will leave Britain facing a 4 per cent loss of potential gross domestic product over 15 years compared with EU membership, according to the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility. Failure to secure an agreement would have led to lost potential GDP of almost 6 per cent, the fiscal watchdog estimated.

Below are some of the benefits conferred by the UK-EU future relationship deal, which also includes security co-operation — and the important areas in which Britain’s links with the bloc will fall short of existing arrangements.

1. Trade in goods

The EU and UK’s starting point for the future relationship talks was that they should lead to a deal with no tariffs on trade in goods between the two sides. They also wanted no quantitative restrictions on the volume of goods that could be sold free of tariffs.

That was negotiated, meaning the deal will go beyond what the EU has done with any other advanced economy outside of the European single market.

But the agreement is still a very different state of affairs to membership of the EU single market and customs union.

Once implemented, from January 1, a hard customs and regulatory border will exist between the EU and the UK, and goods will face checks and controls that can only be smoothed at the margins by co-operation.

2. Fair business competition

The EU’s offer on tariff-free trade was contingent on the UK agreeing to uphold a “level playing field” on fair business competition in areas such as environmental standards and labour rights.

Brussels was also keen to ensure the UK does not have unfettered scope to disburse state aid to prized industries, giving them a competitive advantage.

This issue of the level playing field was one of the most vexing strands of the talks, and the outcome aims to ensure that the two sides’ companies will engage in fair competition.

But, crucially for the UK, it will not be required to follow EU rules directly or be subject to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.

Being outside the European single market has other regulatory consequences for Britain. For example, UK businesses will no longer be able to assume that product authorisations from British watchdogs will allow their goods to be placed on the European market.

3. Fish

The deal creates a five-and-a-half-year transition period during which EU fishermen will have guaranteed access to UK waters.

EU quotas in UK waters will decline compared with their current level, although the bloc will retain significant fishing rights.

EU boats at present catch about €650m of fish in UK waters each year, but this is set to fall by as much as 25 per cent, with the knock-on effect of boosting how much British fishermen can secure.

For the EU, the agreement will mean its boats have guaranteed access to UK waters during the transition. Once the period is over, access will in principle depend on annual negotiations between both sides. Those talks will also determine the overall quantities of different species that can be caught.

For the UK, the deal will enshrine the principle that Britain is now outside the EU’s common fisheries policy: an independent coastal state with sovereignty over its waters.

4. Financial services

The City of London will exit the EU’s single market for financial services at the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31.

Both sides have said that the new market access arrangements for UK and EU financial services companies should be based on unilateral decisions by Britain and the bloc.

These so-called equivalence decisions involve each side evaluating whether the other’s financial services regulations are as tough as its own.

Banks and traders have acknowledged that the proposed system is more piecemeal than existing arrangements, and less stable.

5. Migration

Current British and EU expatriates have their rights safeguarded by the UK’s 2019 withdrawal agreement with the bloc, but big changes to migration arrangements take effect from January 1.

Britons will no longer have the benefit of European freedom of movement: the right to go to any EU member state and seek to work and live there on the same basis as the country’s own citizens.

Instead, Britons will rely on a visa-waiver programme to travel to the EU for short stays, and on member states’ national rules for the right to work.

Ending free movement for EU nationals in the UK was identified by the British government as one of the benefits of Brexit, allowing the country to devise a new immigration system.

6. Security

The EU and the UK have been at pains to emphasise the importance of continuing co-operation in the fight against terrorism and organised crime, although talks in this area were complicated by Britain’s determination to escape the jurisdiction of the ECJ.

But ahead of the deal being finalised, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier confirmed the two sides had found ways to maintain “close co-operation” on crucial matters including the work of the bloc’s crime-fighting agencies Europol and Eurojust, and the sharing of criminals’ DNA data.

Jose posted:

They're desperate for the blender

https://twitter.com/ChrisMasonBBC/status/1342134558708424704?s=19

quote:

Whatever you think of the prime minister, and few are indifferent, today is a moment of triumph for Boris Johnson.

When he became prime minister, he had no majority, no mandate to call his own, an angry country and an angry Parliament.

18 months, a pandemic and nothing less than a brush with death later, he has won a big majority, got the UK out of the European Union, and now done a deal with Brussels.

Some, in the coming days, will suggest it's not good enough.

Others will never be reconciled to Brexit, an idea they will forever regard as a colossal act of self harm.

Vast amounts wait to be found, no doubt, buried amid the subterranean depths of the deal document itself.

But plenty will hope this is the final giant moment in what has been a tortuous few years, combining visceral apoplexy with waves of tedium.

Kernel Monsoon posted:

So where is the deal? When do we find out all the terrible concessions the UK made at the last second?

quote:

Today, the Honourable Seamus O’Regan, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, launched the Government of Canada’s plan to plant two billion trees over 10 years, with an investment of $3.16 billion. Meeting this commitment will help Canada address climate change by reducing carbon pollution and is a key part of Canada’s efforts to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

There is no path to net-zero emissions that does not involve our forests. Planting trees is a natural climate solution that reduces emissions while providing other benefits such as improved air and water quality, particularly in urban settings; decreased risk of wildland fire to rural communities and support for biodiversity. It also provides spaces for recreational opportunities that improve quality of life and form part of our Canadian identity.

Canada’s plan to plant two billion trees over the next ten years is projected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 12 megatonnes by 2050. It will create up to 4,300 good jobs.....

WhatEvil posted:

Some of you may remember that a year ago Corbyn proposed to plant 2 billion trees in 20 years and it was dismissed as unachievable, pie-in-the-sky nonsense from our cursed commentariat.

Jose posted:

They're desperate for the blender

https://twitter.com/ChrisMasonBBC/status/1342134558708424704?s=19

Angepain posted:

just a glorious example of focusing on events as victories for individuals rather than like, what effect they'll actually have on things

boris johnson has succesfully executed the remaining members of labour by blowing up the entire north of england with nuclear arms. this is a great moment for boris and a time for him to feel satisfied at achieving his goals, good for him

Cerv posted:

this one? https://www.ft.com/content/8e6db389-9e09-4c00-9b49-687a2dafd2ca

quote:

4. Financial services

The City of London will exit the EU’s single market for financial services at the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31.

Both sides have said that the new market access arrangements for UK and EU financial services companies should be based on unilateral decisions by Britain and the bloc.

These so-called equivalence decisions involve each side evaluating whether the other’s financial services regulations are as tough as its own.

Banks and traders have acknowledged that the proposed system is more piecemeal than existing arrangements, and less stable.

kustomkarkommando posted:

Some broad graphics outlining the fundamentals in the change of relationship

https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/1342138601396690945?s=19

Gort posted:

This part seems incredibly vague considering that this is the biggest industry in Britain.

Gort posted:

This part seems incredibly vague considering that this is the biggest industry in Britain.

quote:

Brussels was also keen to ensure the UK does not have unfettered scope to disburse state aid to prized industries, giving them a competitive advantage.

Kaveman posted:

Not that Starmer will likely keep these policies but would this caveat prevent nationalisation of industries and or other elements of the "green industrial revolution".

Mr Luxury Yacht posted:

So does this deal blow up the Good Friday agreement and/or what's stopping parliament from just voting the deal down like they did every one of Theresa May's deals?

Mr Luxury Yacht posted:

So does this deal blow up the Good Friday agreement and/or what's stopping parliament from just voting the deal down like they did every one of Theresa May's deals?

Jakabite posted:

I can’t see anyone but the most fervent ERG types voting it down at this point. I’d also like to know what the deal is with the GFA but far as I can tell it means a hard border because of all the customs and regulatory stuff?

quote:

"First we will be in a level playing field with the European Union.
"Second we will be granting them fixed fishing rights for five-and-a-half years.
"Third and perhaps most worryingly, the EU may unilaterally impose sanctions on the UK if it judges that UK to have breached the deal.
"Fourth there was no mention of Northern Ireland. So we must assume the border down the Irish Sea and EU laws being applied in Northern Ireland will both stand.

"The above all breach manifesto promises made by Boris Johnson and cannot constitute the UK leaving the EU as one United Kingdom and taking back control of our laws, our borders, our cash and our fish."

Wikipedia posted:

Habib supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum. He supported Brexit as he felt it was an excellent opportunity to buy additional property portfolio within the UK at a reduced rate

Cerv posted:

Johnson commanding a majority of +80 unlike May's minority of -20 does make it as good as impossible for parliament to do that.

Apraxin posted:

https://twitter.com/pourmecoffee/status/1342132159491006464
What more information could you need?

Gort posted:

I think you'll find our service and financial sectors are small potatoes compared to growing our fishing quota by 25%

Fumble posted:

Is it a better or worse than Mays deal?

Jel Shaker posted:

so hopefully this deal means we still get time sensitive stuff from the EU like radio isotopes?