Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen have both confirmed that we have a deal: one with zero tariffs, zero quotas. The details are not yet published, but several details are now being reported. What follows is a summary of those reports and rumours: we should soon have 2,000 pages of chapter and verse.
The upshot: it’s Brexit. No single market, no free movement, no role for the European Court of Justice, no quotas, no tariffs. At least in goods: there won’t be much in the deal for the services sector (plus ça change) but more on co-operation over terrorism, security and preserving the cross-border energy market. From the looks of it, the UK has moved on fish in return for fewer EU ‘level playing field’ regulations.
The big argument had been over arbitration: what if the EU decides that Britain is undercutting its standards with low regulation, but Britain disagrees? Who will adjudicate? A new mechanism has been agreed that apparently does not leave the final say with the European Court of Justice or any other EU institution.
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