LONDON: Britain has finally severed its turbulent half-century partnership with Europe, quitting the EU single market and customs union four-and-a-half years after its shock vote to leave the economic bloc.
Brexit became a reality as Big Ben struck 11:00 pm (2300 GMT) in London, just as most of mainland Europe ushered in 2021. Prime Minister Boris Johnson described it as an “amazing moment” for the country and played up his upbeat narrative of a “Global Britain” unshackled from rules set in Brussels.
He vowed that post-Brexit Britain, despite being battered by a surge in coronavirus cases, would be an “open, generous, outward-looking, internationalist and free-trading” country. “We have our freedom in our hands and it is up to us to make the most of it.”
Britain legally left the European Union on January 31 but has been in a standstill transition period during fractious talks to secure a free-trade agreement with Brussels, which was finally clinched on Christmas Eve.
Now the transition is over, EU rules no longer apply. The immediate consequence is an end to the free movement of more than 500 million people between Britain and the 27 EU states. Customs border checks return for the first time in decades, and despite the free-trade deal allowing Britain continued access to European consumers, queues and disruption from additional paperwork is expected.
Britain is the first member state to leave the EU, which was set up to forge unity after the horrors of World War II. The 2016 referendum opened up abiding wounds between Leavers and Remainers, and ushered in years of political paralysis before Johnson took power last year, vowing to chart a future for Britain built on scientific innovation and new partnerships across the seas.
A parliamentary debate on Wednesday to ratify the trade deal was marked by elegiac farewells from pro-EU lawmakers, and warnings of disruption as Britain dismantles the intricate network of ties built since it joined the EU’s forerunner in 1973. While the EU tariff- and quota-free trade deal averted potential business chaos in the immediate future, the divorce will play out in many practical ways.
Changes apply to everything from pet passports, to how long Britons can visit their holiday homes on the continent and an end to British involvement in a student exchange programme.
Potential disruption at ports is stoking fears of food and medicine shortages, as well as delays to holidaymakers and business travellers used to seamless travel in the EU. British fishermen are disgruntled at a compromise to allow continued access for EU boats in British waters.
The key financial services sector also faces an anxious wait to learn on what basis it can keep dealing with Europe, after being largely omitted from the trade agreement.
The EU has now lost 66 million people and an economy worth $2.85 trillion, and there is regret that Britain wanted out. French President Emmanuel Macron said Britain will remain “our friend and ally” but lamented that Brexit was the fruit of “a lot of lies and false promises”.
Britain’s chief trade negotiator David Frost tweeted: “Britain has just become a fully independent country again — deciding our own affairs for ourselves.”
