Photographer: Paul Grover / WPA Pool / Getty Images
Photographer: Paul Grover / WPA Pool / Getty Images
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said major changes would come to the UK as a result of the trade deal his government negotiated with the European Union, completing the country’s separation from the bloc, the Telegraph. reported.
“We can’t suddenly decide we’re free and not decide how to exercise it,” Johnson told the Sunday Telegraph in his first interview since the agreement was reached on December 24th. “This government has a very clear agenda to unite, level up and spread opportunities across the country.”
The agreement on the UK’s exit from the single market and the EU customs union will allow trade in goods without tariffs and quotas after 31 December. It does not apply to the service industry (around 80% of the British economy). or financial services. The agreement establishes a new framework for companies on both sides of the Channel that leaves UK companies facing more trade barriers than before Britain became a member of the EU while freeing the British Parliament from many of the restrictions. imposed by EU membership.
Now that it has gained more freedom to establish independent financial and immigration regulations and policies, the UK would not “diverge for the sake of diverging,” he said. But “he would do things differently when it is useful to the British people.”
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Johnson said his threats to move away from the talks and allow the UK to leave the EU on January 1 were genuine and were not a negotiating tactic. The deal was reached because EU negotiators knew the UK would act with “absolute conviction” and “get up and leave,” he said.
UK negotiators were able to “neutralize” EU efforts to force the UK to move forward in terms of future rule-making. These EU efforts have been “greatly diluted,” he said.
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The EU also runs little risk of the UK flattening tariffs on its goods in areas where UK regulations are stricter than EU regulations.
“We could do it … but we’re unlikely to do it because we don’t really believe in tariffs,” he told the newspaper. “We believe in high standards. If the EU does something like that, it should be provided and approved by the arbitrator. “