Freight traffic between Britain and the EU is down almost a third following the end of the Brexit transition, with new red tape and soaring transport costs prompting some small firms to suspend exports to the continent.

Data seen by Sky News shows lorry freight passing between Britain and its major European trading partners since 1 January has fallen dramatically compared to the same period in 2020.

Daily truck volumes between Britain and European Union countries, including France, Ireland and the Netherlands, fell by 61% in the first days of January and are 29% down on average in the first 20 days of the year, according to logistics data company Sixfold.

At the same time, the cost of moving goods from France to Great Britain has risen 47% year-on-year, while the rejection rate, a measure of hauliers across the continent turning down cross-Channel work, has jumped by 168%.

The findings come as companies across a range of sectors, from fishing and food to Formula 1 and farming, say that the Brexit deal has added cost, complexity and delays to doing business in Europe.

Britain's departure from the EU has introduced a raft of new customs and safety procedures - "non-tariff barriers" in trade jargon - for European imports and exports.

Previously these only applied to UK trade with non-EU destinations, known as third countries.

This has been compounded by the sudden introduction of mandatory COVID testing by the French government in the week before Christmas, which has added another layer of complexity of what was previously a frictionless border.

Government officials told MPs on Thursday that as many as 200 lorries are being turned back from the Dover and Folkestone short straits crossings every day, with on average 5% of vehicles found to be non-compliant.

Now the UK is itself a third country, food importers and manufacturers have told Sky News they fear the new border arrangements will make the UK less attractive to European companies.

One told Sky News it had suspended exports while the new regulations bed in.

Rodanto, a family-run fruit grower and importer, has 68 years' experience trading across the continent and owns farms in Spain and Morocco as well the UK, including its base in Sidcup, Kent.

Even with vast experience, its own fleet of lorries, and staff in Europe, it has found the change of systems tough.

Import manager Edward Velasco said Brexit has compounded the challenge of dealing with the disruption of coronavirus, and a destructive cold snap in Spain that hit supplies of citrus fruits and some vegetables including broccoli.

Mr Velasco said he "likes to be positive" about the prospect for business and said he expected border procedures to settle down, but he was concerned about the long-term impact of delays to cross-border trade.

"The challenges of getting fresh produce here makes it less attractive," he said.

"We've got new challenges every week it seems, and it does make it less attractive."

"Hauliers have an extra cost in coming here, they don't know if their drivers are going to get back within a certain amount of time.

"If the wheels aren't moving they're losing money and ultimately so are we so it does create an extra challenge and it makes the UK less attractive."

Nim's Fruit Crisps, based 30 miles away in Sittingbourne, would usually source the raw materials for its air-dried fruit and vegetable crisps from European providers.

Delays to deliveries from Spain before Christmas forced them to look elsewhere, eventually importing lemons from Egypt that were delivered by ship in weeks rather than by lorry within 48 hours.

The company has grown rapidly over the last eight years, placing its products in 2,000 Tesco stores, producing own-brand produce for M&S, as well as growing exports to five European countries.

But owner Nimisha Raja says she has decided to stop all trade with Europe for a month while the new systems bed in, hoping that in time it will become cost-effective.

"We decided that for the month of January we are not going to import anything from the EU, we're not going to export to the EU until we fully get the handle of what it means to export to the EU.

"Now we were selling to five different countries but we stopped exporting pretty much last year leading up to this.

"Exporting and importing is really difficult for a small business like ours.

"For exporting it's a lot of added costs, for staffing, for all the documentation, we have to pay for a lot of documentation as well, like certificate of origin."

Complex rules-of-origin regulations that attract taxes on goods passed from third countries to European customers by UK companies have also increased consumer prices.

The fishing industry has found the change particularly disruptive, with a third of the Scottish fleet tied up and volumes traded through Peterhead, the largest fish market in Europe, running at a fraction of pre-Brexit levels.

The prime minister and cabinet members have characterised the impact of non-tariff barriers on traders as "teething problems", preferring to focus on the pre-Christmas COVID border closure ordered by Emanuel Macron and the general impact of coronavirus on European economies.

That was the message when new Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng spoke to MPs this week.

"We were in the EU for 47 years," he said.

"A lot of predictions of total congestion and chaos have not materialised, that doesn't mean we are out of the woods.

"But the most scary predictions were not borne out in reality.

"I'm confident that we will be able to get to a regime where we will have to get to a much smoother process."

Government officials confirmed to MPs on Thursday that trade is at around 70% of last January's level.

Emma Churchill, director general of the Border Protocol Group, told the Public Accounts Committee that between 3% and 8% of freight vehicles were being turned back at the border.

This is lower than anticipated, with compliance with new paperwork including the Kent Access Permit required to pass through the county higher than expected.

Some 636 fines have been issued for non-compliance with the KAP.

Ms Churchill also suggested trade volumes may not recover to 100% of last year because of COVID, which depressed trade to around 80% of average levels during the March lockdown.

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Freight traffic slumps and costs soar as Brexit friction bites - Sky News

There was a moment in modern British history when Arlene Foster seemed to control the course of events.

his was in early December 2017. Theresa May, the Prime Minister of the UK was in Brussels to sign off on an agreement on Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. Had that meeting proceeded smoothly, the successive three years of wrangling and angst might have been avoided. We might never have heard the tiresome word "backstop".

But it didn't. At lunchtime, May took a call from Arlene Foster. The DUP was in a "confidence and supply" arrangement with the Conservative Party to keep it in power. And Arlene Foster made plain that this deal with Brussels was not acceptable to the DUP. There would be no more backing for Tories in Parliament if May signed it. Mrs Foster had the unprecedented power, for a unionist leader, to call Mrs May back home and insist that she think again.

What was wrong with the agreement was that it established "regulatory alignment" between Northern Ireland and the European Union. May had realised that this was the only way to get out of the European Union without creating a hard border in Ireland.

The deadlock was broken days later with a form of words that enabled negotiations to proceed. If Britain and the EU had not reached a full free trade agreement by December 2020, the UK would have to come up with a good idea to avert a hard border, or Northern Ireland would continue to trade under EU rules. That held open the option of an alternative to the regulatory alignment - if anyone could think of one.

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Power: then Prime Minister Theresa May greets DUPs Arlene Foster, Nigel Dodds and Jeffrey Donaldson at Downing Street in 2017

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When the EU came back in February 2018 with a renewed clarity in its language about the backstop, May baulked. She was back under pressure to concede what the DUP refused to allow and she had to find another way.

That other way could only be a backstop that applied to the whole of the UK, diluting the whole concept of Brexit. This appalled the hard Brexiteers in the Conservative Party, but - crucially - the DUP opposed it, despite the fact that it had been contrived to meet their demand that there should be no difference between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK in relations with the EU. "We leave as one" was Arlene Foster's core principle. And Brexit had to be Brexit.

For three years, the British Parliament would anguish over how to leave the European Union without a hard border in Ireland and without taking rules from the EU. And it would come back in the end to special arrangements for Northern Ireland as the only solution.

By then, the DUP would have lost its stranglehold over the Conservative Party. Boris Johnson would be Prime Minister and no phone call from Arlene Foster was going to rein him in.

Now, no one talks about the backstop, but the intention of avoiding a hard border in Ireland by keeping Northern Ireland aligned with the EU has been met. Even in the last weeks of negotiations in 2020, Boris Johnson threatened to undermine his own agreement to this - and to break international law to do so.

In the end, an announcement came in December, three years, almost to the day, after May's summons from Arlene Foster, that Michael Gove had agreed a "protocol" on Northern Ireland and much of the agonising in between seemed to have been a waste of breath.

Now the graffiti is calling for Arlene Foster to go, because her campaign to secure Brexit has led to what both Britain under May and the EU both foresaw: an Irish Sea border.

The bizarre thing about the DUP's determination to back Brexit is that it was not in their own interest. They appear not to have sat down and thought about how it would work out.

Belatedly, they thought up the argument that a division of the UK - a border in the Irish Sea - would be as much a compromise of the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement as customs checkpoints on the roads to Dundalk and Muff and about 300 other roads between them.

The real problem about the land border was that it would be impossible to control, would open up massive smuggling and would ultimately impose a need on the Republic to leave the single market.

There was no need for the argument, much deployed, that such a border would bring back the Troubles; that it would also rile the rabble and send them burrowing for their guns.

There may have been some substance to that case, but it ultimately isn't a good look to say that something has to be done because otherwise terrorists will get twitchy.

Having played that fear so adamantly has created the conviction in some loyalists that we only have an Irish Sea border because we needed to appease militant republicanism.

That's the argument of Jamie Bryson in his book Brexit Betrayed. He can cast up at unionists their defunct "red lines"; their insistence that there would be no Irish Sea border. Oh, how they swore it would never happen.

But he can also attack nationalism and what he quaintly calls the "latte-drinking liberal elite" for raising the threat of violence and suggesting that affronting nationalists is a greater breach of the Good Friday Agreement than affronting unionists would ever be.

Anyway, the damage is done. The Secretary of State, Brandon Lewis, has the luxury of being able to say that the sea border does not actually exist, because he does not rely for votes on those he seeks to befuddle. Arlene, on the other hand, lives here and leads here and can lose her party and her people.

This is the big weakness in the whole point of having a Secretary of State. It is written into the terms of their employment that, being from neighbouring island constituencies, they don't have to pay for their mistakes in the way that normally keeps a reckless politician in check. Jacob Rees-Mogg is happy because the fish are happy. There's the depth of his commitment.

There are some unionist hopes of reversing the protocol: claims that it can be revoked, hopes that a vote in the Assembly in four years time might scrap it.

In the meantime, Ian Paisley seeks to be his father's son, even making appeals to the consciences of Tories and asking them to search their hearts, expecting them to comprehend the hurt suffered by unionists. Ian had thought that he was riding some kind of wave of unionist enthusiasm. Plucky little Britain was standing up to the Eurocrats again and he was in the frontline.

Sammy Wilson seems to have become a libertarian. I suspect both he and Ian have spent too much time in the company of Nigel Farage. Basically, the Brexiteers were happy to have the DUP onboard, but they were never going to let them steer the ship and, if they didn't like where it was going, they were free to jump off.

Boris Johnson had got what he wanted and won an election with a majority even he would have difficulty squandering in a single parliament, though he might well do.

It's a long way down from Arlene Foster being able to pick up a phone and demand that the Prime Minister think again.

The hope remains that a future big deal between Britain and the EU will make no borders necessary, but until then the fall-back position, the backstop, is that Northern Ireland will do things the EU's way as Great Britain sails ahead into its glorious sovereign future, or wherever.

But having seen how poorly the DUP thought through the challenges that Brexit posed for them, one can hardly hope that they can come to some settled understanding among themselves on how to respond when they are further eclipsed, or when they have another big constitutional question in front of them - like a border poll.

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Malachi O'Doherty: Backstop dominated Brexit debate for two years...but what happened next? - Belfast Telegraph

Forty-eight years after the U.K. entered what would become the European Union and more than four years after voters shocked David Camerons government by voting to leave, Brexit is no longer only a gleam in Nigel Farages eye. As of last weekend, Britons have joined Americans in those crowded Other Passport lanes in European airports and British trade faces more red tape.

Whatever its merits as policy, Brexit was an important test of the U.K. political system. Most of the British establishment hates Brexit as much as the U.S. establishment hates Donald Trump. But instead of following the European pattern of holding repeated referendums until voters return the right answer, the political glitterati bowed to the peoples will. Like Brexit or loathe it, that is how democracy is supposed to work.

It is also a personal triumph for Boris Johnson. Prime Minister Johnson took office with a Parliament hopelessly deadlocked on Brexit. He maneuvered his opponents into allowing him to call an election on a date of his choosing, won some of Labours safest seats to gain a solid majority, andto the astonishment and chagrin of his criticsnegotiated an agreement that won the backing of both hardline Tory Brexiteers and the head of the Labour opposition.

That he pulled all this off despite the pandemic eroding his governments standing in the polls, and sending him to critical care, only emphasizes the extraordinary nature of his success. It remains to be seen what Mr. Johnson will make of Brexit, but he has already joined Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair on the short list of post-imperial British leaders who made a mark on world history.

It is also much too soon to tell how Brexit will work out in practice. Raising barriers to travel and trade is not a recipe for economic growth, and the world-beating U.K. financial sector is particularly vulnerable. Still, both Britain and the EU may find offsetting advantages. Without Eurosceptic Brits dragging their feet, Europeans are now free to tighten the ever closer union that many hope will make the EU a more significant world power. And freed from the regulatory burdens of EU membership, Britain has the chance to engage more deeply with faster growing economies around the world.

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Brexit Arrives, for Better or Worse - The Wall Street Journal

LA LNEA DE LA CONCEPCIN, Spain (AP) Fears of disruptions following Britains departure from the European Union were replaced by coronavirus-related restrictions on border traffic between Spain and Gibraltar on Monday, the first working day at the United Kingdoms only land border with the European mainland.

Only a share of essential workers from an average of 15,000 who cross the fence between Spains La Lnea de la Concepcin and the British territory on a normal day were venturing into Gibraltar, which went into lockdown late Saturday amid a surge in virus cases that is putting under pressure its limited health infrastructure.

Under the new stay-at-home order, the 30,000 residents on the British speck of land on Spains southern tip are only permitted to venture out for work, exercise, medical appointments or to buy essential items. Gibraltar authorities have reported more than 1,300 new cases during the last month, more than double from the levels in early December, and are investigating if the surge is linked to the new virus variant that has rapidly spread in Britain.

In remarks over the weekend, Gibraltars chief minister, Fabian Picardo, said that the first batch of 5,000 vaccines would arrive in Gibraltar on Jan. 9.

At least 200,000 people across the border in Spain, in the so-called Campo de Gibraltar subregion, are also under similar levels of restrictions. The area has seen a surge of the 14-day infection rate per 100,000 inhabitants to 300 cases, twice the average in the broader Andalusia region of southern Spain.

Despite having overwhelmingly voted against the U.K.s EU departure, Gibraltar entered the new year with tighter new controls on what for decades has been an open border with the 27-nation bloc through Spain. The most immediate effect is on customs controls for some consumer goods intended for personal use, such as meat, milk, pet food, and fish produce in most forms.

Some of the longer-term concerns were dispelled last week after Spain and the U.K. clinched a preliminary agreement for making Gibraltar part of the Schengen area group of European nations sharing borders.

Madrid and London had been engaging for months in diplomatic negotiations over the post-Brexit future of Gibraltar, whose British sovereignty since the 18th century has been often disputed by Spain.

The agreement in principle should essentially lead to move border checks from the current fence with Spain to the international airport and the Gibraltar port, but a new treaty to be negotiated directly between the EU and the U.K. needs to be signed after jurisdiction issues and import duties are ironed out, according to authorities on both sides.

A major hurdle in the negotiations is whether the EUs police force, Frontex, could be stationed in the British territory.

___

Aritz Parra reported from Madrid.

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Virus, more than Brexit fallout, worry in and near Gibraltar - The Associated Press

LONDON An exceptional victory, the result of fantastic work and a deal that delivered for the British people.

Even before the text of the post-Brexit trade agreement was published, lawmakers loyal to Prime Minister Boris Johnson lavished praise on him for resolving an issue that has convulsed British politics for almost half a decade.

When Parliament convenes next week to ratify the document, the question will only be the size of Mr. Johnsons majority for a deal that severs close economic ties to continental Europe on Jan. 1 after almost 50 years. Even the opposition Labour Party will officially support it, arguing that it is better than nothing.

Yet this is unlikely to be the final word in the Conservative bloodletting over Europe that has, at least in part, led to the downfall of the partys last four prime ministers.

Hard-line Brexit supporters have yet to examine the agreement, and they probably will not like every word of an estimated 2,000 pages of dense treaty text and annexes. A small group did not want any trade deal at all, never really trusted Mr. Johnson and might still be inclined to make trouble for him.

Already, an organization representing British trawler fleets has expressed disappointment at compromises over fishing rights, and the Scottish government has attacked the deal, arguing it strengthens the case for Scotlands independence.

In the short term, the Tory Party is pretty united around the very hard Brexit that Boris Johnson pushed Britain toward but which many Britons never thought they were voting for, said Charles Grant, director of the Center for European Reform, a research institute.

But the agreement provides only limited economic benefits for Britain, and friction with the European Union is likely to remain, added Mr. Grant, who said the countrys post-Brexit relationship with the European Union may not be much more stable than what preceded it.

In the longer term, the rift may reopen, he said, adding that pressure might grow once the deals limitations become clear.

The pandemic has plunged Britain into the worst recession in three centuries, so post-Brexit politics remain highly volatile, said Anand Menon, professor of European politics at Kings College, London.

And the Brexit debate has poisoned the workings of the Conservative Party, which had long been known for a pragmatic and successful pursuit of power rather than an adherence to political doctrine.

Now, despite achieving his aim of getting Brexit done, Mr. Johnson cannot assume that the divisions are over.

Europe has turned the Conservatives into an ideological party, and it has basically got in the way of Conservative governments governing, Mr. Menon said.

Others have tried and failed to end this internecine feud, including David Cameron, one of Mr. Johnsons predecessors.

Mr. Cameron once famously pleaded with his party to stop banging on about Europe. Yet after being harried by internal euroskeptic critics, he took the fateful gamble of calling the 2016 referendum on European Union membership in an ill-fated effort to put the matter to rest.

Mr. Johnson was a beneficiary of that miscalculation, and the lesson he appears to have drawn from recent history is that it is dangerous for any Conservative Party leader to be outflanked on the euroskeptic right.

He campaigned for Brexit, became prime minister thanks to it, and last year kicked out of his party lawmakers who opposed the idea of a clear rupture with the European Union, uniting his Tories behind his hard-line stance.

But in striking a trade deal, Johnson is taking a calculated risk in disappointing a cohort of purist Brexit supporters who helped him win power and who wanted no agreement at all.

An influential caucus of pro-Brexit Conservative lawmakers known as the European Research Group has yet to weigh in on the agreement, and Mr. Johnson has been working hard to bring them on his side. How many of those lawmakers oppose him and who they are will be very significant, Mr. Menon said.

If you have 20 to 40 of them screaming betrayal, that changes the dynamic, he said.

Waiting in the wings is Nigel Farage, the populist anti-European Union politician who has now rebranded his Brexit Party as Reform UK and has shown his skill in the past at peeling off Conservative supporters.

On Thursday, Mr. Farage cautiously welcomed Mr. Johnsons deal but with the important caveat that he had yet to read the fine print.

Some Brexit supporters have always scented that betrayal would lie somewhere within any treaty negotiated with the European Union and, even before the agreement was struck, it was being denounced as another in a long series of British surrenders to Brussels. One commentary article in the pro-Brexit Daily Telegraph argued that the government had been outsmarted at every turn.

Others agree with that analysis, but from a more pro-European perspective, noting that even official forecasts suggest Britain will lose out on significant economic growth under Mr. Johnsons deal.

Many businesses will notice the limitations of Mr. Johnsons agreement as soon as Britain leaves the European Unions giant single market and customs union on Jan. 1. The accord failed to secure much of anything for the services sector, for example, which accounts for around four-fifths of the British economy.

And the deal increases barriers rather than eliminating them for the manufacturing sector and agriculture. So while there will be no taxes on the import and export of goods, there will be additional checks on them so-called nontariff barriers.

Delays at ports of which Britain just got an ugly foretaste, when France briefly blocked all travelers and freight from Britain will add significant costs to companies, which will have to make an estimated 20 million new customs declarations each year and face other compliance costs.

In the long run, it is such a bad deal that the more moderate wing of the Tory Party may try to get a better deal, said Mr. Grant of the Center for European Reform, noting the Conservatives traditional link to business.

Yet perhaps the biggest danger for Britain is that it is now stranded awkwardly, half-in, half-out of the European economic system, leaving its relationship with the bloc as fraught and politically combustible as ever.

As a big economy that shares a land border with Ireland, a European Union country, Britain will be unable to escape the huge trading blocs gravitational pull, any more than other neighbors that stayed aloof from it, experts say.

Switzerland, for example, is in constant, fractious negotiation with the European Union over their relationship.

Pro-Brexit lawmakers will be likely to press the British government to break away from Europes standards and laws and to test the limits of regained national sovereignty. That is possible under the agreement, but if the European Union believed any such measures were designed to undercut it, the issue could go to independent arbitration and tariffs could be imposed as a penalty.

Mr. Johnson might judge it in his interests to press ahead with contentious rules, either to promote his industrial strategy or to reignite the politically divisive debate over Europe that brought him to power.

Either way, the mechanism established by his deal for resolving trade disputes over diverging economic rules is likely to provide a future flash point. These or other cross-Channel conflicts are certain to be inflamed by the more jingoistic parts of the British tabloid media.

It means a process of almost permanent negotiation between Britain and the E.U., Mr. Grant said, and every time that happens, it will pump up the emotion and the rhetoric.

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Brexit Deal Poses Threat to Boris Johnson and U.K. Conservative Party - The New York Times

LONDON (AP) A steady trickle of trucks rolled off ferries and trains on both sides of the English Channel on Friday, a quiet New Years Day after a seismic overnight shift in relations between the European Union and Britain.

The busy goods route between southeast England and northwest France is on the front line of changes now that the U.K. has fully left the economic embrace of the 27-nation bloc, the final stage of Brexit.

For the majority of trucks, they wont even notice the difference, said John Keefe, spokesman for Eurotunnel, which carries vehicles under the Channel. There was always the risk that if this happened at a busy time then we could run into some difficulties, but its happening overnight on a bank holiday and a long weekend.

Britain left the European blocs vast single market for people, goods and services at 11 p.m. London time on New Years Eve, in the biggest single economic change the country has experienced since World War II. A new U.K.-EU trade deal will bring restrictions and red tape, but for British Brexit supporters, it means reclaiming national independence from the EU and its web of rules.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called it an amazing moment for this country.

We have our freedom in our hands, and it is up to us to make the most of it, he said in a New Years video message.

The historic moment passed quietly, with U.K. lockdown measures against the coronavirus curtailing mass gatherings to celebrate or mourn. Brexit, which had dominated public debate in Britain for years, was even pushed off some newspaper front pages by news of the huge vaccination effort against COVID-19, which is surging across the country.

In the subdued streets of London which voted strongly to remain in the EU in Britains 2016 referendum there was little enthusiasm for Brexit.

I think it is a disaster, among many disasters this year, said Matt Steel, a doctor. It is a crappy deal. I dont really see any positives in it, to be honest.

But in seaside Folkestone, at the English end of the Channel Tunnel, retired bank manager David Binks said he was relieved that the tortuous Brexit saga was just possibly over.

Its been going on for so long now that the time is now, I think, that we move on and go from there, he said.

The break comes 11 months after a political Brexit that left the two sides in a transition period in which EU rights and rules continued to apply to Britain.

The trade agreement sealed on Christmas Eve after months of tense negotiations ensures that the two sides can continue to buy and sell goods without tariffs or quotas. But companies face sheaves of new costs and paperwork, including customs declarations and border checks.

The English Channel port of Dover and the Eurotunnel braced for delays as the new measures were introduced.

The vital supply route was snarled after France closed its border to U.K. truckers for 48 hours during Christmas week in response to a fast-spreading variant of the virus identified in England. Some 15,000 truckers needed emergency virus tests just to get into France, a process that left many stuck in their trucks for days.

But the pandemic and a holiday weekend meant cross-Channel traffic was light on Friday. Britain has also delayed imposing full customs checks for several months so that companies can adjust.

In the French port of Calais, officials said the new computer systems were working well and truckers had the right paperwork.

Brexit ... is not a synonym for congestion, as we say in English, nor a synonym for traffic disruption, but everyone must do their work, said Jean-Marc Puissesseau, president of the Ports of Calais and Boulogne-Sur-Mer.

Jean Marc Thillier, director of customs for the region, warned that the border faced a trial by fire when traffic picks up after the holiday weekend.

Brexit also brought new checks across the Irish Sea. A dozen trucks rolled off the first ferry to arrive at Dublin Port from Wales before dawn, clearing the new customs inspections without delays.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said trade would change fundamentally.

Were now going to see the 80 billion euros ($97 billion) worth of trade across the Irish Sea between Britain and Ireland disrupted by an awful lot more checks and declarations, and bureaucracy and paperwork, and cost and delay.

Hundreds of millions of people in Britain and the bloc also face changes to their daily lives, with new rules for work visas, travel insurance and pet paperwork.

And years of discussion and argument lie ahead, over everything from fair competition to fish quotas, as Britain and the EU settle into their new relationship as friends, neighbors and rivals.

Brexit could also have major constitutional repercussions for the United Kingdom.

Northern Ireland, which shares a border with EU member Ireland, remains closely tied to the blocs economy under the divorce terms. So while goods will continue to flow freely across the Irish land border, there are new checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. Over time, that could pull Northern Ireland away from the rest of the U.K. and toward Ireland.

In Scotland, which voted strongly in 2016 to remain in the EU, Brexit has bolstered support for separation from the U.K. The countrys pro-independence First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: Scotland will be back soon, Europe. Keep the light on.

___

Video journalists Jo Kearney and Jason Parkinson in Folkestone, England and Alex Turnbull in Calais, France contributed.

______

Follow all AP stories on Brexit at https://apnews.com/Brexit

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Quiet New Year gives breathing room after UK-EU Brexit split - The Associated Press

So this is it. Forty-eight years after Britain joined what was then the European Economic Community, the fasten seatbelt signs are switched on and the cabin lights have been dimmed. It is time for departure.

Many in the UK, especially on the left, are in despair that this moment has arrived. For them, this can never be the journey to somewhere better: instead it is the equivalent of the last helicopter leaving the roof of the US embassy in Saigon in 1975.

The lefties who voted for Brexit see it differently. For them (us, actually, because I am one of them), the vote to leave was historically progressive. It marked the rejection of a status quo that was only delivering for the better off by those who demanded their voice was heard. Far from being a reactionary spasm, Brexit was democracy in action.

Now the UK has a choice. It can continue to mourn or it can take advantage of the opportunities that Brexit has provided. For a number of reasons, it makes sense to adopt the latter course.

For a start, it is clear that the UK has deep, structural economic problems despite and in some cases because of almost half a century of EU membership. Since 1973, the manufacturing base has shrivelled, the trade balance has been in permanent deficit, and the north-south divide has widened. Free movement of labour has helped entrench Britains reputation as a low-investment, low-productivity economy. Brexit means that those farmers who want their fruit harvested will now have to do things that the left ought to want: pay higher wages or invest in new machinery.

The part of the economy that has done best out of EU membership has been the bit that needed least help: the City of London. Each country in the EU has tended to specialise: the Germans do the high-quality manufactured goods; France does the food and drink; the UK does the money. Yet the mass exodus of banks and other financial institutions that has been predicted since June 2016 has not materialised, because London is a global as well as a European financial centre. The City will continue to thrive.

If there are problems with the UK economy, it is equally obvious there are big problems with the EU as well: slow growth, high levels of unemployment, a rapidly ageing population. The single currency which Britain fortunately never joined has failed to deliver the promised benefits. Instead of convergence between member states there has been divergence; instead of closing the gap in living standards with the US, the eurozone nations have fallen further behind.

In their heads, those predicting Armageddon for the UK imagine the EU to still be Germanys miracle economy the Wirtschaftswunder of the 1960s. The reality is somewhat different. It is Italy, where living standards are no higher than they were when the single currency was introduced two decades ago. It is Greece, forced to accept ideologically motivated austerity in return for financial support. The four freedoms of the single market no barriers to the movement of goods, services, people and capital are actually the four pillars of neoliberalism.

The Covid-19 crisis has demonstrated the importance of nation states and the limitations of the EU. Britains economic response to the pandemic was speedy and coordinated: the Bank of England cut interest rates and boosted the money supply while the Treasury pumped billions into the NHS and the furlough scheme. It has taken months and months of wrangling for the eurozone to come up with the same sort of joined-up approach.

Earlier in the year, there was criticism of the government when it decided to opt out of the EU vaccine procurement programme, but this now looks to have been a smart move. Brussels has been slow to place orders for drugs that are effective, in part because it has bowed to internal political pressure to spread the budget around member states and its regulator has been slower to give approval for treatments. Big does not always mean better.

Leaving the EU means UK governments no longer have anywhere to hide. They have economic levers they can pull procurement, tax, ownership, regulation, investment in infrastructure, subsidies for new industries, trade policy and they will come under pressure to use them.

Many on the remainer left accept the EU has its faults, but they fear that Brexit will be the start of something worse: slash and burn deregulation that will make Britain a nastier place to live.

This, though, assumes that Britain will have rightwing governments in perpetuity. It used to be the left who welcomed change and the right that wanted things to remain the same. The inability to envisage what a progressive government could do with Brexit represents a political role reversal and a colossal loss of nerve.

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The left must stop mourning Brexit and start seeing its huge potential - The Guardian

Brexit: Johnson says UK has opportunity to expand horizons

The UK began a new relationship with the EU last week when the Brexit transition period ended.During the transition Britain remained subject to the blocs rules as a member of the single market and customs union.

But at 11pm on December 31, this ended. The UK and EU now cooperates under a free trade deal.

Writing in the Telegraph, Mr Farage said that reducing immigration into the UK remains a key issue for Tory voters.

The former MEP said he saw a problem with Home Secretary Priti Patels claims on immigration.

He added: Indeed, 2021 is not even a week old and already the first illegal immigrants have arrived at the Port of Dover.

Mr Farage went on to blast the celebrity do-gooders and lefty lawyers who signed an open letter in November calling for a deportation flight to Jamaica to be cancelled.

He said: Convinced of the evil intent of the government following the Windrush scandal, these celebrities and politicians managed to help prevent some of the deportations from going ahead.

Mr Farage acknowledge that Ms Patel understands the importance of border controls.

He said in 2020, the official number of people coming to these shores via inflatable dinghies reached 8,500.

READ MORE:Nigel Farage attacks BBC for 'impending doom' approach on Brexit

Last week, Ms Patel pledged to use "even tougher powers to keep this country safe and protect our homeland security" after the UK left the EU.

Writing in the Telegraph, she said the Brexit deal "gives our police and security services the tools and partnerships to help keep the public safe".

She added: "And having left the EU means we can give these agencies stronger powers to keep this country safe.

That includes banning foreign criminals who have served more than a year in jail from entering the UK.

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Ms Patel also pledged to crack down on illegal immigration and reform the broken asylum system.

However, Mr Farage said the home secretary faces a problem now that the UK no longer deals with asylum claims under the Dublin regulation.

This regulation allowed British authorities to return people who had previously claimed asylum in another EU member state.

Mr Farage said: The problem for Patel is that, Britain leaving the EU, the Dublin regulations have expired and have not been replaced with anything else.

The French have successfully stalled us, so what will the British government do?

It could simply return to France those who arrive in the UK illegally, but I see a legal problem here too.

He explained that the UK has agreed to remain part of the European Human Rights act.

If the UK violates terms under the European Human Rights act, the whole of the trade agreement could be terminated by the EU" according to Mr Farage.

He added: This is the mess in which Britain now finds itself.

As things stand, the government will continue to face legal challenges if it tries to deport convicted criminals and the cross-Channel migrant route will be as busy as it was last year.

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Nigel Farage rages over post-Brexit immigration mess French have stalled us - Daily Express

Its all over. There is no going back. The UK has left the EU after 47 years. So how did we get here?

The UK votes to leave the EU by a slim majority, 51.9% to 48.1%, setting the ball rolling on one of the most tumultuous chapters in recent British history. It will involve supreme court challenges, the prorogation of parliament, sackings of some of the most senior politicians in the Conservative party, and even splits in the future prime ministers own family, with Boris Johnsons brother quitting government and his sister running for election with a rival political party.

David Cameron resigns, bringing an abrupt end to his six-year premiership.

Front pages reflect the divisions that are to come.

Daily Mail: Take a bow, Britain. It was the day the quiet people of Britain rose up against an arrogant, out-of-touch political class and a contemptuous Brussels elite.

The Sun: Why should I do the hard s**t? With Cameron photo.

The Guardian: Over. And out.

Le Monde: Good luck.

Boris Johnson rules himself out of race to become Conservative party leader, having been dealt a fatal blow when his former Vote Leave ally Michael Gove announced he was standing.

Theresa May becomes prime minister after rivals Johnson and Gove fall.

May lays down her red lines to quash Ukip support, telling the party faithful immigration will be the central basis for departure from the EU.

Gina Miller wins a high court ruling that the government needs the consent of parliament to trigger article 50.

In an unprecedented attack on the independent judiciary, the Daily Mail brands the judges enemies of the people.

In a Lancaster House speech, May hardens her red lines, aiming for an end to the jurisdiction of the European court of justice and an exit from the single market and immigration control. On the other side of the Irish Sea, hopes of firm commitments on the Irish border are dashed, sowing the seeds for problems to come.

The EU decides the Irish border will be one of the three priority issues to be solved in the legally binding withdrawal agreement. May, still pushing to convince Eurosceptics of her credentials, will be left unprepared for the weight of the EU juggernaut about to arrive in the negotiation room.

May invokes article 50, fatefully starting the clock counting down to a Brexit deadline two years later. In Brussels, the EU negotiation machine is at full throttle, with detailed draft guidelines (including on the troublesome Irish border issue) issued two days later, something UK negotiators will later say gave them a hefty advantage.

May calls a snap general election, vowing to crush the saboteurs, the Daily Mail claimed. It described her decision as a stunning move in which she had called the bluff of game-playing remoaners (including unelected lords).

The election gamble backfires with the shock loss of 13 seats and a hung parliament, forcing May into a deal with the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) in Northern Ireland.

Britain releases its plan for the Irish border. It is dismissed by the EU as magical thinking.

The Telegraph brands 15 MPs including Ken Clarke, Dominic Grieve and Anna Soubry mutineers after they say they will join forces with Labour to block measures that would enshrine the date of Brexit in law.

The first phase of negotiations ends with the publication of a joint report, but not without last-minute drama. After touching down in Brussels for lunch with Juncker, May gets an unexpected call from the leader of the DUP, Arlene Foster, who tells her she will not support the paragraphs on the Irish border.

Four days later, May returns on a pre-dawn flight from Northolt to sign off a deal that contains one new paragraph that sows the seeds of two years of future conflict over the Irish border backstop. Irelands taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, calls the commitments on the border bulletproof.

The Brexit secretary, David Davis, goes on TV to downplay the significance of Decembers joint report, saying it is just a statement of intent.

Just months after signing the joint report that set up the negotiations framework, May declares that no prime minister could agree to borders between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

May produces her Chequers plan to keep the whole of the UK in customs alignment with the EU thus obviating a need for Irish border checks. Michel Barnier rules it out soon after.

Davis and his junior Brexit minister Steve Baker resign, plunging the government into a fresh Brexit crisis. A day later, Boris Johnson resigns as foreign secretary.

May is humiliated in Strasbourg as she is told her proposals wont work. The European council president, Donald Tusk, posts on Instagram mocking May for cherrypicking. Her Europe adviser Raoul Ruparel will later describe it as the lowest moment in the negotiations.

Cabinet divisions deepen. The Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, and the pensions secretary, Esther McVey, quit, as do the Brexit minister Suella Braverman and Northern Ireland minister Shailesh Vara.

The withdrawal agreement is signed in Brussels as the EU agrees it is the best possible Brexit deal, but May returns to domestic political war.

The first meaningful Commons vote on the Brexit deal is postponed after 164 speeches over three of the five days allotted for the debate. May wins a confidence vote.

Tensions rise with the EU as May returns to Brussels to ask for changes in the deal she has just signed.

The number of ministers and government aides quitting over Brexit rises to 19 after a whip resigns.

May loses the meaningful vote by a landslide 230 votes, the heaviest parliamentary defeat for a prime minister since 1924.

Tusk wonders about a special place in hell for those who proposed Brexit without a sketch of a plan.

Mutiny is in the air as a cabinet trio led by Amber Rudd threaten to resign unless May takes no deal off the table. The threat works, with May offering votes on no deal and an extension of article 50. But the decision causes shockwaves that will ripple through to the summer when Johnson makes his move on her job.

What a difference 24 hours makes. May returns from a mercy dash to Brussels for changes on Irish border backstop. The move backfires after her attorney general, Geoffrey Cox, says legal advice on the Irish border backstop is unchanged. May suffers a second humiliating defeat, this time by 149 votes.

Brexit descends into farce as the Commons Speaker, John Bercow, reaches back to 17th-century parliamentary convention to rule that May cannot bring her deal back for a third vote unless it is substantially changed.

May confirms she will step down as prime minister by the end of July, firing the starting gun on the race to succeed her, involving Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt, Matt Hancock, Rory Stewart, Esther McVey and others. May is pictured welling up as she leaves Downing Street.

Johnson is declared leader of the Tory party.

Johnson reveals plans to prorogue parliament, causing deep divisions within his party.

Johnson suspends 21 members of his party including Grieve, David Gauke and Nicolas Soames who have sought to block a no-deal Brexit. Ten of them will have the whip restored after a Brexit deal is sealed in October.

Johnsons brother, Jo, resigns from the cabinet, citing unresolved tension between family and the national interest.

The supreme court rules that Johnsons advice to the Queen that parliament should be prorogued for five weeks at the height of the Brexit crisis was unlawful. The courts president, Lady Hale, becomes a hero and her broach an icon for many on the remain side.

Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar meet in the Wirral for 11th-hour discussions to save Brexit and break the deadlock on the Irish border backstop. Days later the deal is revealed, with a Northern Ireland protocol setting a trade border in the Irish Sea.

Johnson is returned to power with an 80-seat majority on the promise that he will get Brexit done.

The UK leaves the EU at 11pm.

Trade negotiations begin, hampered by the Covid lockdown. The two sides chief negotiators, Barnier for the EU and David Frost for the UK, have symptoms.

The first deadline for a deal passes with no agreement on fisheries. Johnson tells the EU to put a tiger in the tank and get a deal by the middle of July. The EU council president, Charles Michel, tells the UK it will not buy a pig in a poke.

Another deadline set by Johnson passes.

Several more deadlines pass.

Finally, a deal is struck.

The 1,246-page document is released, leaving MPs and MEPs little time to read and scrutinise the detail.

Johnson tables an 85-page piece of legislation to ratify the deal with less than 48 hours to go before the end of the transition period. Brigid Fowler, a senior researcher at the Hansard Society, describes the process as a farce and an abdication of parliaments constitutional responsibilities to deliver proper scrutiny of the executive and of the law.

The deal is signed in the EU and ratified in the House of Commons by 521 votes to 73.

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From leave vote to last-ditch deal a big Brexit timeline - The Guardian

Dive Brief:

Since early December, stockpiling behaviors and preemptive trade shifts, have caused some upheaval in the normal flow of freight between the U.S. and the U.K. Freight forwarders have been declining to transport goods into the U.K. for weeks leading up to the new year for fear that they won't be able to return with a backload or that long lines will delay drivers,Bloomberg reported.

The often relatively slow period between Christmas Day and the New Year led to a quiet first few days, but as trade picks up in the new year, officials expect delays to accrue beginning Monday.

Aidan Flynn, general manager of Freight Transport Association Ireland, warned that supply chains will need to re-engineer their processes, building in more time between order and delivery. Flynn ball-parked the necessary delay at 12 hours, according to the Irish Times.

Before the deal's final approval, the Port of Rotterdam said it expected a 20% to 30% increase in cargo declarations for imports and exports.

The 1,246-page document was published mere days before it went into effect, which means many supply chain professionals are still working out the final implications. But the deal has also triggered some actions that will eventually help solidify and normalize the new conditions for U.K.-EU freight flow.

The UK is building a 1,200-truck capacity "Inland Border Facility" parking lot at the Dover Port to open in July.

Link:

Short-term freight snags expected as Brexit deal goes into force - Supply Chain Dive

The threat of a no-deal Brexit has always been a hoax and it has been one of the most successful deceptions in British political history. It was never a real option but has systematically lowered domestic expectations for a deal and allowed the government to avoid any serious scrutiny. Boris Johnson played the role of no-deal madman with aplomb, as if he had been born for it. Which of course he believes he was.

The idea that no deal was a plausible option never made any sense. When Theresa May first threatened that no deal is better than a bad deal, in her January 2017 Lancaster House speech, it was a bluff. It was an attempt to act as if Britain by far the weaker party in the negotiations had some leverage. It didnt.

No deal was always the worst possible option: it would have been an act of colossal self-harm, disrupting food and medical supplies and undermining global financial stability. Even without the pandemic, it would have knocked the UK and European economies into recession. It would have been bad for the EU but far worse for Britain. No prime minister or government would have ever survived the fallout. It was never a real option.

The obvious alternative to a deal was never some imaginary doomsday after 31 December but the continuation of the status quo. Despite the rhetoric, transitionary agreements that kept everything the same for as short as possible, as long as necessary have been the revealed preference of both the EU and the British government as Brexit deadlines have come and gone. It would have been no different this time.

No deal was never a credible threat to the EU, but rather a powerful force to shape domestic politics. The strategic geniuses in the Tory party briefed the British press that to secure a good deal, the EU had to believe that Britain would walk away. When Dominic Raab was Brexit secretary, the government produced a series of no-deal notices that only served to highlight the idiocy of such a policy. But the threat never carried real credibility in Brussels because the asymmetrical impact was so blindingly obvious.

The real policy of the government has been that any deal is better than no deal. The deal that has been struck is a lopsided agreement that secures the EUs economic interests while undermining ours. In many respects, it offers poorer market access than recent deals between the EU and Japan, and the EU and Canada, while imposing much tougher obligations to ensure a level playing field. The most generous description is that it is a thin deal.

Yet the pro-Brexit British press is triumphant, hailing Johnson as some kind of hero. There is no reflection of reality in much reporting: the stronger party has secured most of its objectives, while the weaker party has accepted what it must. Even serious analysts pull their punches by prefacing their analysis with various formulations of while it is better than no deal. After a terrible year, most of the public simply feel relieved.

The fact that so many played along speaks volumes about our political class and media elite. It reveals a lack of critical thinking and remoteness from the real economy, from manufacturers to farmers to financiers. It also shows a predilection for political drama and titillation at wanton destruction rather than for sober and serious analysis. And with the official opposition not offering any opposition whatsoever, it has exempted the government from any serious scrutiny.

Misguided politicians think that voting through the deal will bring closure. But it simply reveals how disconnected Westminster is from reality. The deal will be costly for business and inconvenient and undignified for Britons travelling to the continent. It will create new tensions with Northern Ireland. And, with a review set for 1 January 2025, it will feature in the next general election, because Johnson wants it to. You may think Britain is done with Brexit. But Brexit isnt done with Britain.

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The threat of a no-deal Brexit was nothing more than a hoax - The Guardian

They have done it. The right wing of the Conservative party has won a historic victory. The UK will be a sovereign third country, with a limited trade deal with the EU. The UK, rightwingers believe, has been reconciled to its true history as a nation of offshore islanders.

But they have also failed, according to their own terms. Theresa Mays red, white and blue Brexit is long dead, and a bad deal turned out to be better than no deal. The EU will not be supplanted by a great new Europe where British trade flows unimpeded; there are now frictions and barriers, not least in services. Any serious deregulatory move by the UK will be met with EU retaliation.

In short, the UK has repatriated economic sovereignty and discovered that, far from allowing it to humble the EU, it has harmed itself. Leaders who supposedly stood up for the greatness of the renewed British nation have been revealed as champions of free trade who dont understand the modern economy and as boastful flag-waving nationalists who dont realise that great British rulers once looked down on such tinpot antics.

As things now stand, Brexit is a pointless gesture, a politics of headlines in which sovereignty is performed by bleating world-beating absurdities. Remarkably, four years on from the referendum, it is still a promise without a plan. We have broken out of one regime of international relationships into a holding position worse than what came before, but with the possibility of redemption or damnation, or, more likely, stagnation.

We might end up with a renewed plebiscitary and parliamentary democracy in which the people take back control, and not just from Brussels. But Boris Johnsons cronyist Tories make the EUs bureaucrats look like models of honest and transparent politics; their systematic mendacity, abetted by a loyal press and unconstrained by parliament, hardly inspires confidence. In fact, the legitimacy of the nation has been severely dented, and Northern Ireland and Scotland are likely to take leave of the sinking British ship of state.

In their failure as champions of free trade, the Brexiters have actually repeated a British failure of the 1950s, an attempt to create a western Europe-wide industrial free trade area that led instead to the UK seeking entry to the European Economic Community in 1961. Perhaps they might reach back even further into history, to the aspiration of an earlier generation of Tory press lords, who pushed for empire free trade in the 1920s and 1930s. These men who had power without responsibility, in Baldwins famous phrase also failed, as India and the dominions remained protectionist.

The imperialists and press lords of that era wanted to create a trading bloc to rival the United States; todays Brexiters would prefer a deal with the Americans, handing control to Washington rather than Brussels. But the US, even after Trump, is still protectionist and deeply committed to exporting low-standard foods.

There are some other options left for Brexiters. The strong expat tendency might suggest a Cayman Islands model: merging the UK with an archipelago of tax havens run from the Caribbean, to create an even bigger rentiers paradise than the one we already have.

As a last option, they may give up on the rest of the world, and focus on national renewal, on levelling up. But we already have some indication of how this is going. The creation of new national business is in reality contracts for cronies and dodgy startups angling for subsidies, while Brexiter businesses actually invest overseas. We should hardly be surprised that levelling up turns out to be a small pork-barrel fund for financing better bypasses.

Brexit has nowhere realistic to go, for Brexiters at least. Does it offer possibilities for Labour? For now the answer is no, given that Labours position is to be patriotic and prostrate. Indeed, Brexit is a potent reminder of the power of new conservative ideas in shaping Labours agenda. In the 1930s, Labour followed the Tories from being a party of free trade to one of imperial protection and then, to backing the EEC, and in the 1990s, to globalisation and the free market.

That pattern is being repeated with Brexit not merely by virtue of Labour voting in favour, but in accepting a propagandistic Tory analysis of its causes. Keir Starmer is straining to appeal to a mythical ur-Labour voter, constructed like a specimen of stone age man by Tory paleontologists of the red wall.

Yet the ideological maelstrom of Brexit gives Labour the opportunity to abandon old nostrums and re-energise itself with a new national mission and a new history of its own. The left needs to disabuse itself of the cosy and outdated notion that Britains ills are caused by imperial hangovers and a consequently incompetent upper-class elite. Labour needs to wake up and offer an alternative future to contest the Tory narrative one that amounts to more than just better welfare and more administrative competence.

Labour could start by being nostalgic not for a Tory past, but a Labour one: of greater equality, of common purpose, of strong trade unions, of rising wages, of meaningful work. Labour could embrace the idea of a refreshed democracy, of really taking back control of an anti-elite politics rather than a reheated technocracy. It could once again become the party that offers a national, collective critique of the elite and its power as it was from the 1930s into the 1970s and propose a policy of national reconstruction and equality. Labour should be the party that speaks in realities, not in celebratory fantasies, and seeks to create a truthful democratic politics, which is essential to any real programme of progressive change.

The one good thing to come out of Brexit is the bonfire of national illusions which is about to rage. It would be tragic if Labour were to try to put it out. For in its own way, Brexit has forced some essential understanding of Britains place in the world.

It is no longer even potentially top nation. It will not escape the orbit of Europe it never did, even at the height of its power. It must imitate far more than it innovates. Understanding these truths is crucial to a genuine national reconstruction, which should aim to create a real better country, not to fake being the best.

A policy of national reconstruction, for the foundational economy, for the support of better everyday life, needs to be built on a double critique of the failed policies of the past 40 years, and of the Brexit ultras seeking an even more disastrous turbo-Thatcherism. For Labour, this moment represents a historic political opportunity: a chance to rethink its own past, and write a new history for the British nation.

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The one good thing to come out of Brexit: a bonfire of national illusions - The Guardian

Larry Elliott is consistent in his criticism of the EU (The left must stop mourning Brexit and start seeing its huge potential, 31 December). He points out the neoliberalism inherent in the core EU policies of free movement of goods, services, capital and people. He then extols the advantages for the UK of being freed from EU shackles to pursue its own destiny in the world.

But arent we committed to chasing the same neoliberalism on a broader canvas? He says nothing of the EUs social and political projects health and safety, employment protection, social welfare, retirement rights and other programmes. He ignores the ambitions of a gradual rapprochement between nations that engaged in monstrous wars in the recent past. Brexit UK is moving backwards, self-condemned to continued national decline, as other countries find ways of developing at least some elements of a progressive agenda in a harsh and divided world. Peter Taylor-Gooby Professor of social policy, University of Kent

Larry Elliott cites the example of Italy to lead to a conclusion that the EU has not been a success. It could be easily argued that the relatively poor economic performance of Italy is due to successive corrupt and incompetent governance as much as to the effects of monetary union ditto Greece. How does one explain the performance of Ireland (where I am happily exiled), the Iberian countries and the newly admitted eastern European countries, where there have been substantial improvements in standards of living?

Moreover, Elliott also seems to be appealing to the left on purely economic terms. Just as the remainers failed to appreciate that for many leavers, the decision was an emotional, not a rational, one, so it is for many remainers that the decision was more about culture than economics. Brexit deprives millions of UK citizens of the right they had to travel, study and work across the 27 countries of the EU without let or hindrance. As a person of the left, I will always mourn that. Richard Brown Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland

Larry Elliott looks to Britains future post-Brexit and to the vision the Labour party might have at this crossroads moment. Surely the question is, what kind of country do we want? Are we looking to be a European Singapore or Cayman Islands, with free ports owned by venture capitalists? Will we be a European neoliberal economy with an American model, with its consequent rewards for the few?

Or will we take the opportunity to rebalance our economy? Will we invest in improving our skills so that we are in a strong position to be more self-reliant in green industries, and in the care and horticultural sectors? Will therefore our vision be of a European social democratic country that invests in its citizens and rewards them proportionately?

I look forward to the Labour party promoting just such a vision. We have the opportunity. We must ensure that it is grabbed by those of us who want a Britain for the many, not the few. Bob WolfsonRudford, Gloucestershire

Larry Elliotts progressive vision for Brexit will be hard to realise. Since 1918, Labour has won only eight of 28 general elections. And since 1945, just three Labour leaders have won general election majorities. Unless Labour fights incredibly skilfully, Brexit will be what its architects always intended it to be: a rightwing, free market, deregulating project. Thats the problem with welcoming historys disruptive engine it might just run you over.Bruce DearLondon

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Is the leftwing vision of Brexit Britain just fantasy? - The Guardian

Brexit is not something to celebrate, Irelands foreign minister Simon Coveney declared after the UK formally severed ties with the EU, as he warned of trading disruptions due to fresh red tape.

In stark contrast to Boris Johnsons buoyant characterisation of the countrys future following the end of the transition period at 11pm on Thursday, Coveney painted the UKs departure as a source of regret.

Calling it the end of an era, Coveney said trade across the Irish Sea would be disrupted by an awful lot more checks and declarations, and bureaucracy and paperwork, and cost and delays.

But on Friday, as the first ferries arrived in the Republic of Ireland from Britain under the new post-Brexit trade rules, events appeared to unfold smoothly. In Dublin, Irish Ferries ship Ulysses docked at 5.55am with about a dozen trucks on board, after travelling from Holyhead in Wales, and there were no delays as the freight trailers cleared customs checks.

Meanwhile, the first ferries also sailed in and out of the port of Dover uneventfully, although it is thought that the real test is yet to come as the New Year is typically quiet and importers had been stockpiling products before the end of the transition period.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4s Today programme on Friday, Coveney said: For 48 years, the United Kingdom really has been a central part of the European Union. And that is now firmly ending with the end of the transition period For all of us in Ireland, that is not something to celebrate. Our relationship with the United Kingdom is so close, so integrated, so interwoven, if you like, politically, economically and from a family perspective.

My own personal story is so shaped by the Anglo-Irish relationship, and thats the same for so many other Irish people, so were seeing the United Kingdom moving in a different direction on its own, chasing some notion of trying to re-find its sovereignty and that is something that we regret but, of course, we accept because it was a democratic decision.

Despite Downing Street securing a trade deal with Brussels on Christmas Eve which was subsequently fast-tracked through parliament on Wednesday as MPs approved a bill making the agreement UK law Coveney warned there would still be trade issues. Were now going to see the 80bn [72bn] worth of trade across the Irish Sea between Britain and Ireland disrupted by an awful lot more checks and declarations, and bureaucracy and paperwork, and cost and delays, he said.

That is the inevitable consequence, unfortunately, even with a trade agreement which everybody, I think, is very relieved was signed on Christmas Eve.

However, he said there would be no additional checks on goods between Northern Ireland which is staying in the EUs single market, as well as applying EU customs rules at its ports and the Republic of Ireland. Newly introduced checks on goods arriving in Northern Ireland from mainland Britain would be as limited as possible, he said.

In terms of checks on goods, the whole point of the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland linked to Brexit is to maintain an all-Ireland economy in terms of the movement of goods as it is today, he said. The only checks will be on goods coming from GB into Northern Ireland, and those checks will be as limited as possible to protect the movement of goods and services within the United Kingdom as a whole.

The first ferry from Great Britain operating under the terms of Northern Ireland trading protocol docked in Belfast on Friday on schedule at 1.45pm the Stena Line ship arrived from Cairnryan, in Scotland, with no evidence of disruption or delay.

In France, the president, Emmanuel Macron, used his New Years Eve message to take aim at Brexit, calling it the product of lies and false promises.

Meanwhile, in a piece for the Daily Telegraph to mark the new year, Johnson wrote: Despite the many predictions of failure and constant suggestions that the talks should be abandoned we got a great new deal with our European friends and neighbours.

More than four years on from the Brexit referendum, Johnson also said the country had taken back control of our money, our laws and our waters.

He added: And yet it is also the essence of this treaty that it provides certainty for UK business and industry, because it means that we can continue to trade freely with zero tariffs and zero quotas with the EU.

He described it as a big win for both sides of the Channel, continuing: For us, it means the end of the rancorous bickering about Europe that has bedevilled our politics for so long. It means the end of that uneasy feeling that we were constantly being asked to sign up for the details of a project a giant federal fusion of states in which we didnt really believe and hadnt really bargained for.

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Brexit is nothing to celebrate, says Ireland's foreign minister - The Guardian

The historic UK-EU trade deal secured on Christmas Eve, which took effect on New Years Day, is seen by many as the end of Brexit. Yet, the huge, wide ranging processes unleashed by the UKs 2016 referendum are only just beginning to play out in ways that could have contrasting implications for the EU and United Kingdom.

For while the 2020s could potentially see a more federal, centralised EU after the UKs departure, the opposite may be true for the United Kingdom itself. With pressures growing for Scottish independence and potentially even Irish reunification, the 2020s are an uncertain time for the union of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The immediate backdrop for this is December 24s trade breakthrough which is, mostly, welcome news for European and wider global business after more than five years of Brexit uncertainty. However, this is tempered by the fact that the agreement is the first international trade negotiation in history where barriers go up, rather than down, compared to the status quo, and it does not cover the services sector which accounts for 80% and 70% respectively of the UK and EU economies.

Much attention, in the last half decade, has focussed on these trade (and the earlier withdrawal) negotiations between the EU and United Kingdom. This has obscured the fact that the UK referendum set off a much wider set of changes.

Indeed, the EU-UK trade talks are, in fact, only one subset of much broader, forward looking debates in four areas: between the EU and the UK; within the UK; within the EU; and also between the UK, EU and the rest of the world.

Take the example of the EU-UK discussions on their future relationship. Important as the Christmas Eve deal is, there are key holes in it, not just for economic sectors like financial services, but also other critical areas of cooperation, including foreign and defence policy, which had originally been proposed to be in the agreement.

Moving beyond EU-UK negotiations, Brexit has also set off important debates within the UK; within the EU about its future; and also between the UK, EU and the rest of the world. Within the EU, for instance, there are several key debates about the 27 member blocs future well underway, including rebalancing the union given the new balance of power within it; and whether the EU now integrates further, disintegrates or muddles through.

For instance, with the United Kingdom no longer in the Brussels-based club, the EU-27 has already made in 2020 significant steps towards greater federalism. One example is the new 750 billion coronavirus recovery fund, a major political milestone in the post-war history of European integration, which saw the continents presidents and prime ministers commit for the first time to the principle of jointly issued debt as a funding tool. This potentially paves the way for greater, future EU supranational powers of taxation, altering the political economy of the union, post-Brexit.

Yet, it is not just the EU, but also the United Kingdom, where there are major internal debates too about the future. However, whereas the next few years may result in a stronger, centralised union of EU states (despite significant continuing disagreements between these same nations), the opposite may be true across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Brexit has exacerbated tensions over the UKs unity in several ways, including putting Northern Ireland at the forefront of UK politics in a way it had not been since the Good Friday Agreement around a quarter of a century ago. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnsons decision to allow a new border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom has angered much of the unionist community, especially the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

This, combined with the 2019 UK general election result which saw the nationalist parties, Sinn Fin and the Social Democratic and Labour Party, win nine Westminster MPs compared to the DUPs eight seats, has given rise to speculation as to how soon a referendum might be held on Irish reunification.

While Northern Ireland was relatively muted as an issue during the 2016 referendum, the prospect of Brexit leading to Scottish independence was actively debated. Now the 2019 Westminster election result and the Scottish National Partys (SNPs) continued political strength in the Scottish legislature mean either a new independence referendum or growing tensions with the rest of the United Kingdom are almost inevitable, particularly given that the SNP has asked Johnson to agree to a new independence vote.

His decision to reject the request to date deals with the issue in the immediate term. However, the SNP are playing a longer game, expecting to dominate results in the 2021 Scottish elections after which this issue could come to the boil.

Taken together, this is why the short to medium term implications of Brexit could have significantly different implications for Brussels and London. While both unions are under stress, the 2020s could yet see a tighter, increasingly federal EU while the United Kingdom could become significantly more de-centralised or even broken up given the growing threat to its territorial integrity.

Views expressed above are the author's own.

END OF ARTICLE

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Europe in the 2020s: Why Brexit could have significantly different outcomes for Brussels and London - The Times of India Blog

Brexit: Fishermen criticise Boris Johnsons unfair deal

The Brexit deal will see the EU handing back 25 percent of its share of the catch in UK waters over a transition period last five-and-a-half years, after which both sides will hold annual negotiations on some 100 shared stocks from 2026. But Sean O'Donoghue, chief executive of the Killybegs Fishermens Organisation (KFO), the largest fishermen's representative body in Ireland, warned the deal between the UK and EU demonstrated the duplicitous nature of the protracted negotiations and that the repeated guarantees made to Irish fishermen had effectively been broken. He warned the agreements spanning four-and-a-half years since the Brexit referendum had been dishonoured by the negotiators

Scallop skippers Seamus Molloy and Will Bates from Kilmore Qua and fish 12 miles off the French coast, warned Ireland must start taking back, given that it will represent some 12 per cent of EU waters but with 30 per cent of fishable waters.

Mr Molloy told Irish maritime website Afloat.ie: "The French - we all know they are militant enough and seem to get what they want all the time - they have kept open from the six-mile to the 12-mile limit, but I don't know why it is not open to us.

"I imagine when England said they were claiming back some of their sovereignty, when they got to the 12-mile limit, they would have been happy enough to leave quotas everywhere else.

"We have seen Macron intervene with Barnier and whatever happened between the two of them, this wasn't on the table.

"The Irish seem to have been sacrificed across the board - we seem to have lost a large part of our mackerel quota and prawn quota."

Mr Molloy added: "We're waiting for confirmation but when you read it, I think we're in trouble.

"Down to the numbers alone with France, we have given up a massive amount of our mackerel quota and prawn quota.

"When you look at the English Channel, the whole sector is sectioned off and when you divide up the English Channel in half, some of these sectors cross between the French sector and the English sector so if they turn around and stick a limit on us, they will actually do the same for French waters as well.

This would be double hit for us.

"We have had unfettered access to English waters day one. We have our own system here where we are limited but because our fleet is so small, we have enough access.

"This is something we have always had and I don't see why we should lose it now."

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8.50am update: Nigel Farage rages over post-Brexit immigration mess French have stalled us

Nigel Farage has questioned whether Boris Johnson will tackle the post-Brexit immigration "mess" and resolve the issue "head-on" after accusing the French of "stalling" progress.

Writing in the Telegraph, Mr Farage said that reducing immigration into the UK remains a key issue for Tory voters.

The former MEP said he saw a problem with Home Secretary Priti Patels claims on immigration.

He added: Indeed, 2021 is not even a week old and already the first illegal immigrants have arrived at the Port of Dover.

8.30am update:Supermarket Morrison's says Brexit has not impacted on supplies yet

Britain's fourth biggest supermarket group has not experienced ant issues with supplies from continental Europe since a post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union took effect last Friday.

Morrison's CEO David Potts said: "There is no issue with the flow of merchandise between mainland Europe to Morrisons right now."

However, he highlighted the the volume of goods crossing the English Channel is low at this time of year.

Mr Potts added: "So I think any delay on the back of paperwork and process post December 31 is yet to be felt or yet to be visible."

8am update: Germany warns of 'brutal damage' to its industries as Brexit deal condemned

Brexit is well and truly a reality after the UK's trade deal with the EU came into place on January 1 - but concern remains in Germany as figures warn of "enormous damage" to the country's industries.

About one in seven cars made in Germany are sold in Britain, meaning a trading arrangement was clamoured for in Berlin in order to prevent a crisis in the country's automotive industry.

But, despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's positivity, concern remains in Germany.

German magazine Der Spiegel wrote in the aftermath of the trade deal late last month that the deal agreed is still comparable to a hard Brexit.

It added that "brutal consequences" were around the corner and that "the new year will be a hard wake up call".

The magazine also said "the damage to companies will be enormous, but it is ordinary citizens who will pay the highest price".

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Brexit LIVE: EU crumbles as Irish fishermen turn on allies - 'Macron got what HE wanted!' - Daily Express

The impact of Brexit on European travel after 31 December 2020 is going to be a complicated one. A recent survey by Discover Ferries, which represents ferry operators in the UK and Ireland, reports that only one in three people felt confident about travel changes after the end of the transition period. Only 6% of respondents were aware of all the changes affecting EU travel in 2021.

Passports, healthcare, pets, driving and duty-free shopping were some of the topics causing confusion. Recent Covid-related travel restrictions have made things even less clear.

A fifth of those surveyed were planning European summer holidays in 2021; others were waiting to see how Brexit and Covid-19 play out. Discover Ferries director Abby Penlington said that because of 2020s disruptions, operators were expecting passengers to book closer to their departure date than usual. She was optimistic about travel opportunities opening up, but said: Amid UK lockdowns and the festive period, updating travel documents may not be at the forefront of the publics mind.

People need to plan ahead to do things like renew passports and update insurance, pet documents and driving permits. Here is what we know so far about travelling to EU countries in 2021.

With the new coronavirus variant spreading, some countries have suspended travel from the UK, and people in tier 4 areas are banned from travelling abroad except for work purposes. EU Covid-19 guidance recommends that member states restrict non-essential travel from outside the EU unless visitors come from countries with much-lower rates of infection, such as Australia and New Zealand.

Mark Tanzer, chief executive of Abta, representing the travel industry, pointed out that the European councils guidance is only a recommendation. Individual EU countries are still able to implement their own measures, considering options such as travel corridors and testing, he said. He thought it would still be some weeks before the full position was clear.

An Abta spokesperson added: Obviously, its subject to infection rates, but its a matter of common sense. British holidaymakers are very important for a number of EU countries. Several destinations will be desperate for us to come back. According to Abta, UK travellers took more than 66 million European trips in 2019.

There was a less sanguine view from the travel trade union, the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA). Its general secretary, Manuel Cortes, said early in December: Just when weve had some good news from the vaccine rollout, this news about post-Brexit European travel restrictions could sound the death knell for the travel trade.

It doesnt matter whether its a new dark blue one or an old burgundy one, UK passports will need to have at least six months remaining validity before the holder can travel to Europe. Passports also need to have been issued less than 10 years ago, which is generally not a problem. There is a government passport checker here.

Travel to the Republic of Ireland will generally stay the same. It is part of a common travel area that existed before we were members of the EU, so UK visitors will still be able to enter Ireland with any valid passport or photo ID, such as a driving licence.

Not for stays of less than 90 days. The European freedom of movement weve had for decades will end on 1 January 2021. But UK travellers will, for now, still be allowed to visit EU countries visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180 days.

From 2022, under the new European Travel Information and Authorization System (Etias), nationals from previously visa-free third countries, including UK citizens, will need to pay for a visa-waiver to visit Schengen-area countries. We will also need to fill in an Etias application form before setting off.

The UK government website says British visitors to EU countries may need to prove they have enough money to support themselves for the whole of their stay. They may also need to get their passport stamped and show a return or onward ticket. They will probably need to wait in a different queue from EU citizens, too. And (with a few exceptions) they wont be able to take meat, dairy and certain plant products with them.

If you are driving your own car, youll need a green card (insurance certificate) to show that youre insured in the EU. You need to contact your insurance company six weeks before you travel to get one. After 31 December, youll need a GB sticker on your car, too, even if the number plate already has a GB marking.

If you only have a paper copy of your driving licence, you may also need an international driving permit available at most post offices. For updates over coming weeks and months on which countries require one, check here.

Yes, but current EU pet passports will no longer be valid from 1 January; owners will need an animal health certificate instead. Government advice is to contact a vet at least four months in advance. Daniella Dos Santos, senior vice-president of the British Veterinary Association, said: The UK has been confirmed as Part 2-listed, which means pets will need an animal health certificate every time they travel to the EU. Pet owners should visit their vet at least a month before travel regarding rabies vaccination, and then again no more than 10 days before travel to obtain the animal health certificate. Our advice to pet owners is to contact their vet in plenty of time to get the latest advice and allow time for the necessary additional paperwork.

The overall picture is complicated and the UK government recommends taking out travel insurance with healthcare cover. No new European health insurance cards (Ehics) will be issued to UK citizens, but holders can continue to use them in the EU while validity lasts. The new UK-EU agreement suggests there will be a replacement healthcare scheme (involving a global health insurance card), but there are no clear details yet.

In 2017, the EU abolished additional charges for roaming (using your mobile phone abroad) for EU citizens travelling in other EU countries. Before that, holidaymakers could sometimes inadvertently incur hefty extra fees. From 1 January, individual mobile providers could introduce roaming surcharges again.

The UKs four main phone networks EE, Three, Vodafone and O2 promised in the summer not to reintroduce charges. An EE spokesperson said: Our customers going on holiday and travelling in the EU will continue to enjoy inclusive roaming.

A new UK law means travellers cant now incur mobile data charges of more than 45 a month without being alerted. For data usage costing more than 45, theyll need to opt in by agreement with the operator.

The pre-Brexit rules let you bring as much as you like back from EU countries without paying UK duties. From January 2021, there will be a duty-free allowance both ways. Up to this maximum, travellers can bring home goods bought in an EU country as long as they transport and use them themselves (or give them as a gift). The allowance for travellers from the EU to the UK includes up to four litres of spirits, 18 litres of wine and 42 litres of beer, so you could still stock up for a pretty good party.

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How will travel to the EU change for Britons after Brexit? - The Guardian

MPs and peers are expected to approve the Brexit trade deal with the EU on Wednesday, in a frantic day of parliamentary activity.

To pass the EU (future relationship) bill, which allows Boris Johnsons government to sign and ratifty the 1,246-page treaty sealed on Christmas Eve, the bill is set to pass all of its stages in the Commons and Lords and receive royal assent on Wednesday, before the expiry of the Brexit transition period on New Years Eve.

Pretty packed. MPs will assemble or rather the majority will log on from the constituencies, given London is under tier 4 coronavirus restrictions from 9.30am, and must first approve a formal business motion for the events of the day, which also sets out the plan for remote proceedings. Once this is done, Johnson will open the debate on the second reading, followed by the Labour leader, Keir Starmer. Michael Gove will close for the government. The whole of the debate, and votes on all remaining stages of the bill are meant to be completed by 2.30pm, when MPs will turn their mind to debating Covid.

From about 3pm, peers will take over. The final vote is expected in the Lords at about 11pm. The Queen is, we are told, on standby at Windsor Castle to give royal assent to the bill. This would then be announced to the Commons.

This has already been signed in Brussels, in a brief ceremony on Wednesday morning, by Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, the heads of the European commission and European council respectively. EU ambassadors gave interim approval for the deal earlier this week. Two copies of the treaty, both bound in blue leather, are being flown to London in a Royal Air Force plane for Johnson to sign. One will remain in London and the other the one embossed with gold stars will go back to Brussels.

No. The Commons has 84 MPs listed to speak, with 145 peers listed in the Lords, leaving just minutes for each. In a report on Wednesdays proceedings, the parliamentary thinktank the Hansard Society says the last time a bill went through all parliamentary stages in a single day was a 2007 measure connected to Northern Ireland, which had just two clauses. The EU bill is 85 pages long.

A number of people think not, not least quite a few MPs. The Hansard Society has called the proceedings a farce, noting that the parliamentary process takes place just six days after confirmation there would be a treaty, four days after the treaty was published, and less than two days before the treaty is due to come into force, with the only other option being no deal. The society also notes that it is still unclear how the hybrid proceedings in the Commons will handle basic procedures, such as amendments and proxy votes, especially given the enormous time pressures.

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From Brussels to the Palace: how Brexit deal will be passed in a day - The Guardian

Jonathan Powell was Downing Street chief of staff and chief British negotiator in Northern Irelandfrom 1997-2007.

I have spent the last 40 years involved in international negotiations of one sort or another, and I have never seen a British government perform worse than they did in the four years of negotiations that concluded with the Christmas Eve Brexit agreement.

Leaving aside the rights and wrongs of Brexit, purely in terms of negotiating technique, it is an object lesson in how not to do it. As the bluster and self-congratulation dies down, it is worth standing back and looking at what we can learn from the debacle.

We have ended up with an agreement which is more or less where the EU started. It is true that there have been a few sops to the U.K. position on the dynamic alignment of state aid and the role of the European Court of Justice. But on every major economic point, even including fisheries, the EU has got its way.

There are five principal reasons why.

First, we massively overestimated the strength of our negotiating position. It is true we are equally sovereign as the EU, but we are not sovereign equals. They are much larger, and we depend on them much more for trade than they do on us. That is why we have had to back down every step of the way, accepting EU insistence that we agree the divorce agreement first, putting a trade border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.,accepting a single legal treaty and finally Boris Johnson caving in just before the end-of-year deadline. The same disparity of strength exists with the U.S., and we should bear that in mind during trade negotiations with Washington.

Second, we fired the starting gun before we had worked out our own position, with the result that we spent the first two years negotiating with ourselves while EU chief negotiator Michel Barniers clock was ticking. Triggering Article 50 the legal mechanism that kicked off a time-limited exit process before we were ready meant we constantly found ourselves facing a self-inflicted deadline by which we had to concede or face severe economic and political costs. We should have waited until we knew what we wanted and only then pulled the trigger rather than blundering in without knowing our desired end point. This was not the fault of the negotiators but of their political leaders.

Third, we prioritized principles of sovereignty over economic interests and put defensive steps protecting a theoretical concept we dont actually want to use ahead of practical benefits. Sovereignty is a nebulous concept as the newly-published assessment by the Star Chamber of the European Research Group of pro-Brexit Tories unconsciously demonstrates in distinguishing between practical and theoretical sovereignty. In any international agreement, from the NATO treaty to the Good Friday Agreement, a state limits its sovereignty, but it usually does so in return for practical benefits.

With this agreement with the EU, we have done the opposite. We have defended the theoretical possibility of doing things we dont actually want to do, like lower our environmental standards or support failing industries, in return for giving up measures that would increase our prosperity. So we have spent the last weeks fighting (and losing) over fishing, which represents 0.1 percent of our economy, while accepting that services, which represents 80 percent of our economy and where we have a competitive advantage, is excluded from the agreement. We have therefore ended up with a free-trade agreement which is worse in substantive terms than many others the EU has recently concluded. And we have certainly not secured no non-tariff barriers, as Boris Johnson has claimed.

Fourth, trust is fundamental to any successful negotiation. We willfully destroyed the EUs trust in our commitment to implement what we had already agreed by threatening to unilaterally renege on the Northern Ireland Protocol. No. 10 reportedly thought they could provoke a crisis and thereby give themselves the whip hand as the EU panicked. Instead the EU kept calmly ploughing on and achieved its objectives while we wasted time on silly tactical games. We were forced to back down before we could sign the FTA, so we made no substantive gain, but the price will be paid in the future as we try to negotiate further agreements with the EU on financial services and justice and home affairs issues in the absence of trust.

Fifth, and most unforgivably, we never developed a strategic plan for the negotiations. It is a strange thing you would never enter into a military or political campaign without a strategy but the government seemed to think it was alright to turn up for these talks and hope things would work out. As a result we were constantly reacting to EU positions throughout and even agreed to negotiate from an EU text rather than a U.K. one. Unsurprisingly, the agreement ended up being mostly what the EU wanted.

It is worth learning from these failures in negotiation strategy because we are embarking on a series of trade negotiations with countries around the world. If we want to do more than simply replicate existing agreements those countries have with the EU, we are going to have to do a lot better.

And if we think the Brexit negotiations with the EU itself are over, we are about to be sadly disappointed. We are at the beginning of what will be decades of permanent negotiation with our much larger and more powerful neighbor. We do not want our government to make the same mistakes again or we will all pay for it.

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5 reasons the UK failed in Brexit talks - POLITICO.eu

Wexford-based online logistics company Scurri intends to raise additional financing to accommodate growth arising from Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic.

The company, which has raised 8.5 million to date, last year secured 1.5 million from existing backers to help it cope with a 55 per cent jump in delivery volumes arising as a result of the first Covid lockdown.

Founder Rory OConnor told The Irish Times that business had continued to surge during the year with further growth expected in 2021, following the recent deal between the European Union and the UK on their future relationship.

We expect to be ebitda [earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation] positive for the first time in 2021, he said.

Established in 2010, Scurri, which Mr OConnor describes as being like Stripe for shipping, has developed a delivery-management platform that makes it easier for online retailers to ship goods to customers.

Its technology helps ensure the safe delivery of millions of parcels each month for companies that include Ebay and Ocado, with its platform selecting the most effective delivery options, creating accurate labels and tracking packages, and also providing analytics for merchants.

We had an exceptional year in 2020 despite the challenges of having to work remotely and in dealing with exponential growth. We have spent years building a really solid platform that would enable us to scale but we certainly didnt expect to be where were at now so quickly. There was one day during the pandemic where we were coping with 100,000 transactions per minute, which is something we had never seen the likes of before, said Mr OConnor.

Scurri, which does not disclose revenue, recorded a 100 per cent rise in turnover growth last year, a figure that jumped to as much as 180 per cent during peak periods.

Mr OConnor said given the strength of growth the company was experiencing, it would be fundraising again shortly. While he wouldnt give a concrete figure in terms of how much Scurri is seeking, he said it would be many multiples of what it raised last year.

Weve already got 100 per cent growth pre-booked in and it will be a while before Covid is sorted out. Even when it is, consumer behaviour has changed to the extent that weve experienced around 10 years of acceleration in ecommerce and thats not going to go back, he said.

Despite a last-minute Brexit deal having been agreed, Mr OConnor also said the added complexities that exporters face was good for his business.

Our solution deals with customs documentation, route changes and so on easily and therefore that makes us even more of a critical partner for our clients post-Brexit, he said.

Businesses will face difficulties in dealing with the new rules and were here to help resolve them.

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Scurri seeks further funding as business booms on Brexit and Covid - The Irish Times