RPT: REVIEW - UK, EU Complete Drawn-Out Brexit Process As Trade Deal Agreed Before New Year Deadline

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st January, 2021) The United Kingdom finally left the European Union on January 31, more than three and a half years after the June 2016 referendum that started the Brexit process, although London and Brussels spent the remaining 11 months of the year bickering over the terms of a wide-ranging future partnership agreement that was eventually reached on Christmas Eve.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson may have succeeded in securing the UK's departure from the EU, as he promised ahead of the country's general election in December 2019, although his campaign to "take back control" from Brussels was met with stern resistance as the European Union stood its ground.

It took until December 24, one week before the end of the 11-month transition period that came into force when the UK left the bloc, for London and Brussels to finally reach a deal.

From the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement to the Internal Market Bill, from fishing rights to the level playing field, Sputnik can provide a comprehensive look back at more than four years of disputes and bickering as Brexit came to a head in 2020.

PRIME MINISTER DELIVERS ON PROMISE TO GET BREXIT DONE

Most pollsters predicted that the UK population would vote to remain in the June 2016 referendum on the country's membership of the European Union. As a result, many were surprised when the Leave campaign won with 52 percent of the vote.

David Cameron, the UK prime minister at the time, favored remaining in the European Union and offered his resignation in the days following the referendum.

In his place stepped Theresa May, who launched her leadership campaign by proclaiming that "Brexit means Brexit."

May triggered Article 50 in March 2017, which formally began the UK's departure from the European Union. This gave London and Brussels a two-year negotiating window to conclude a withdrawal agreement, although the UK government was forced to ask for an extension on multiple occasions as the House of Commons struggled to reach a consensus.

After numerous parliamentary setbacks, May resigned as prime minister in July 2019 without a Brexit deal to show for her efforts. Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London and foreign secretary, won the Conservative leadership race and took over as prime minister of a minority government.

The new prime minister tried multiple times to push a revised Brexit Withdrawal Agreement Bill through the Commons to no avail. Johnson did, however, manage to secure lawmakers' approval for a general election, which he hoped would give the Tories a parliamentary majority.

Johnson's campaign ahead of the December 2019 general election could be distilled down into one simple three-word slogan: "Get Brexit done." The incumbent prime minister vowed to restore the UK's sovereignty, particularly in key policy areas such as migration, and the public voted in their droves.

The Conservative Party surged to a historic election victory, winning an 80-seat majority in the House of Commons in what turned out to be the Labour Party's worst election result since 1935.

This triumph gave the prime minister the political mandate, as well as the parliamentary majority, to push ahead with his Brexit plans, particularly after the previous two years of minority government rule.

Parliament voted in favor of giving a renegotiated Withdrawal Agreement draft a second reading in October 2019, although lawmakers refused to support Johnson's accelerated timetable for passing the legislation, leaving the prime minister frustrated.

Eight days after the general election, the House of Commons passed the second reading of Johnson's Brexit Withdrawal Agreement Bill by a 358-234 margin, paving the way for Brexit to be completed.

After gaining royal assent in the UK, the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement was ratified by the European Parliament on January 29, and approved by the Council of the European Union one day later.

At 23:00 GMT on January 31, the United Kingdom finally left the European Union, more than three years after the June 2016 Brexit referendum.

JOHNSON'S OVEN-READY BREXIT DEAL UNDERCOOKED

In an address to the nation on "Brexit Day," Johnson stressed that the UK's departure from the bloc was "not an end, but a beginning." From that day, an 11-month transition period began, which saw the UK no longer represented in EU institutions but still subject to the bloc's trade and migration rules.

The stated aim of the transition period was to give both parties time to reach agreements on key issues, such as migration, defense, security, and trade.

The trade deal negotiations dominated headlines throughout 2020, given that both parties would have conducted business on the basis of World Trade Organization rules, leading to the imposition of tariffs, if an agreement could not be concluded by the end of the year.

In the run-up to the 2019 general election, Johnson promised the UK population an "oven-ready" Brexit deal, along with his pledge to "get Brexit done."

As the transition period drew to a close, many members of the media pressed Conservative lawmakers over the prime minister's "oven-ready" deal as the UK and EU struggled to reach a free trade agreement.

"The prime minister made it clear that every single Conservative candidate in the 2019 general election would subscribe to the Withdrawal Agreement and that was the oven-ready deal that he was talking about," James Cleverly, the government minister for the middle East and North Africa, said during an appearance on the ITV broadcaster on December 7.

As soon as the EU's top Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, and his UK-based counterpart David Frost began trade deal talks, the divergences between London and Brussels became apparent.

The UK and EU were fundamentally opposed on three key issues that would go on to dominate many press conferences and meetings throughout the year: fisheries, governance, and the level playing field.

Disputes over fishing rights were at the forefront of the disagreements between Brussels and London, despite the industry contributing just over 0.1 percent to the UK's gross domestic product.

The UK government set out to bolster the country's share of fishing quotas and wanted annual negotiations on access to UK and EU waters. Brussels, on the other hand, sought an agreement on long-term access that would preserve EU member states' right to fish in UK waters.

The United Kingdom's adherence to the so-called level playing field, defined as the set of common rules and standards put into place to prevent businesses in one country from undercutting their rivals in another, was a key priority for the European Union.

Additionally, Brussels raised alarm over the possibility that the UK government could pump money into domestic industries in order to distort competition.

On governance, Brussels and London struggled throughout the year to agree on the general structure of their future relationship and the dispute resolution mechanisms needed for the coming years.

According to a House of Commons briefing paper published in June, the European Union was hoping for an agreement that would refer certain disputes to the Court of Justice of the European Union. London, on the other hand, stood fundamentally opposed to the EU court having jurisdiction over matters concerning the UK.

The matter of governance took center stage in September when the UK government published its Internal Market Bill, a piece of legislation that appeared to override some of the commitments on Northern Ireland made by Johnson's government in the original Brexit Withdrawal Agreement Bill.

The new bill drew the ire of the European Union, especially as the UK government's Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis admitted in the House of Commons that revising the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement could constitute a violation of international law.

David Hearne, a researcher at Birmingham City University's Centre for Brexit Studies, told Sputnik back in September that the government's decision to backtrack on its Withdrawal Agreement commitments was "shocking."

"I cannot overstate how significant this is. To stand up and admit that the government actively intends to break a treaty (and international law) is quite a shocking development," Hearne said at the time.

Northern Ireland was at the center of the Brexit negotiations, as UK and EU officials attempted to find a solution that would maintain the integrity of the bloc's single market but also avoid the creation of a hard border on the island of Ireland.

The original Brexit Withdrawal Agreement included the Northern Ireland Protocol, which established a procedure for imposing checks at UK ports on animal and plant products that may enter the Republic of Ireland from Northern Ireland.

On the other hand, the Internal Market Bill promised Northern Ireland "unfettered access" to the UK's market. The new bill also appeared to give the UK government greater control over state aid rules in Northern Ireland than previously agreed in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.

The European Union threatened legal action, and as negotiations reached their conclusion in the month of December, the United Kingdom finally backed down and committed to removing the most controversial parts of the Internal Market Bill.

"I am delighted that we now have an agreement in principle on all the outstanding issues regarding the EU/UK Withdrawal Agreement," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter on December 8.

EU, UK FINALLY GET DEAL OVER LINE

With the matter of the Withdrawal Agreement finally resolved less than a month before the end of the Brexit transition period, negotiators and leading officials from London and Brussels spent the better part of three weeks locked in talks during December.

Boris Johnson flew to Brussels for a dinner with Ursula von der Leyen on December 9, although the European Commission president reported that little progress was made in resolving the three key disagreements.

"We had a lively and interesting discussion on the state of play across the list of outstanding issues. We gained a clear understanding of each other's positions. They remain far apart," von der Leyen said in a statement published after the meeting.

The European Union subsequently announced that a deadline of December 13 had been set for both sides to either reach a deal or walk away from negotiations, although von der Leyen and Johnson both later agreed to continue talks in the hopes of reaching an agreement.

Negotiations intensified during the run-up to Christmas, although a surge in COVID-19 cases linked to a new strain of SARS-CoV-2 in southeast England complicated matters further.

Matt Hancock told the House of Commons on December 14 that the new variant had been identified in roughly 1,000 individuals. Six days later, the French government issued an initial 48-hour ban on passenger and human-accompanied freight transport, causing chaos near the UK's major ports in Kent.

Thousands of trucks were seen lining the sides of the M20 highway, as well as Manston Airport, a closed air force base and civilian airfield that was turned into an auxiliary truck park.

Amid the disruption and fear of fresh food shortages, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon urged Johnson to seek an extension to the transition period, although Downing Street showed no sign of deviating from its plans.

Talks continued, and the breakthrough eventually came on December 24.

"So, we have finally found an agreement," von der Leyen said at a press conference in Brussels on Christmas Eve.

The European Commission president expressed her desire to now "leave Brexit behind," adding that the agreement was "fair and balanced."

Minutes after von der Leyen spoke, Johnson said that the UK government had completed its "biggest trade deal yet," worth 660 billion Pounds ($889 billion) a year.

Later in the evening, Johnson said in a video address that he had a "small present for anyone who may be looking for something to read" on Christmas Day, before holding up a stack of papers believed to be the full text of the UK and EU's future partnership agreement.

"This is the feast," Johnson said while holding up the document.

The future partnership agreement still needed the approval of lawmakers in both the United Kingdom and the European Union before entering into force.

On December 28, Germany's permanent representative to the European Union wrote on Twitter that the bloc's ambassadors had approved the provisional application of the deal, and two days later, the UK's House of Commons voted 521-73 in favor of implementing the agreement.

European Council President Charles Michel, as well as von der Leyen and Johnson, signed the agreement on the same day, paving the way for the post-Brexit deal to provisionally enter into force from January 1.

The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union are expected to make their decision on the agreement in early 2021.

The UK government on Christmas Eve published the future partnership agreement in its entirety, consisting of more than 1,200 pages of text.

According to the terms of the deal, no tariffs or quotas will be imposed on goods traveling between the UK and the EU, although exporters can expect to face a range of new regulatory and administrative hurdles that will alter their business relations.

Furthermore, tariffs may be applied to goods in the future should one side fall below an agreed-upon minimum level of environmental, social, and labor standards.

Free movement has been abolished, as UK citizens will now only be able to spend a maximum of 90 days out of every 180 in the Schengen area without applying for a visa or residency.

The UK will also no longer participate in the EU's Erasmus+ university exchange program. In its place, UK students will be able to study abroad with the help of the so-called Turing scheme, named after famous mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing.

Additionally, the United Kingdom will not be bound by judgments issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union, which Johnson hailed as a significant victory for the island nation's sovereignty.

However, UK negotiators appear to have made significant compromises on fishing rights, as von der Leyen said during her Christmas Eve press briefing that an agreement was reached covering access for an initial five years, instead of the annual negotiations that the UK wanted.

In total, UK fleets will receive 25 percent of the current EU catch in UK waters, estimated to be worth 146 million pounds ($198 million), phased in over five years. UK negotiators had initially asked for 80 percent.

"The fact that many predicted it, doesn't make it any less galling. The Tories have sold out Scottish fishing all over again. Promises they knew couldn't be delivered, duly broken," Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wrote on Twitter on December 26.

The United Kingdom will also be able to establish its own subsidy regime for state aid, which is believed to be a concession made by the European Union.

More than four years ago, Brexit appeared to be a threat to the very existence of the European Union. Rumors spread throughout the bloc that other member states would look to follow the UK out the door.

However, Michel Barnier told France's Le Figaro newspaper on December 27 that he believed the drawn-out Brexit process would discourage other member states from choosing to leave.

In her December 24 address, von der Leyen referred to the importance UK politicians placed on "sovereignty" throughout the Brexit process.

"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," von der Leyen remarked.

The United Kingdom now stands alone, close enough to the European Union to benefit from a zero tariffs, zero quotas trade deal, but without the seamless access to the single market it once had.

As the global economy looks to rebound from the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced in November that the country's GDP is expected to fall by 11.3 percent in 2020. The EU economy, on the other hand, is expected to contract by 7.4 percent this year.

In 2020, Boris Johnson finally completed what he set out to do upon taking office: securing the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union with a free trade deal in hand.

Brexit may have been completed, but the full impact of the UK leaving the European Union will likely not be felt for several years to come.