What's in the Brexit trade deal?

Sky's economics editor Ed Conway analyses the official documents to find out what's in the 1,200 page trade agreement.

There will be no tariffs or quotas - but there will be some bureaucratic barriers to trade.

The amount of fish EU boats can catch in UK waters will also be gradually reduced over a period of five and a half years.

[rodmac]

The success of these post-Brexit negotiations was in part due to the fact that Ursula von der Leyen is actually a fully-trained Gynecologist, which made dealing with Boris a lot easier.

[kelly]

NO way will the E.U. let the U.K be better off, in any deal.

[paulhoskin]

So 4 years on.
What a waste of time that was

[bill]

This is frankly hilarious. We've sacrificed billions in trade and added billions in cost over an industry that brings in less than 1bn a year. And we've lost financial services pass porting, which is probably worth more to the UK than fishing for a century.

[RedCrusaderArc]

The real fun is going to start when people want to go to Europe for vacation.

[tvgerbil]

The UK had a surplus of £18 billion on trade in services and a deficit of -£97 billion on trade in goods with the EU in 2019. Anyone looking at the terms of the deal carefully will see that negative impacts on the trade in goods will be minimised but no such measures will be in place for the trade in services. The EU is having a good deal, at the expense of the UK.

[seanpatrick]

Brexit deal summary: Trading with the EU remains the same as before, except if the UK decides to lower standards, in which case the EU may impose tariffs. The UK now has no say on the standards and loses freedom of movement. Oh yeah, and Northerner Ireland is now part of the EU.

Brexiteer response: Victory!!! Sovereignty!!!! Hooray!!!

[kaba_me]

Definitely NOT a good deal for the UK.
The EU is happy for the tariff-free trade on goods, as we are buying more from them.
We lose access to the services market, where we had a big surplus.
And on top of that, we only get 25% of our fishing quota back... in 5 years time.

[freedom-izse]

Our deal doesn't seem to be a great deal.

[guyrivington]

In short, a complete waste of time and an awful decision made by 51 percent of the British public, and people wonder why the country is split.

[mrnobody]

So we’re in a better position with a deal but still worse than we would have been had we remained, but fucked either way in the long run, great, well done to all involved!

[MixedMartialHelp]

So an awful deal worse than staying in the EU, and not even Brexit.

[ricardothorburn]

Fishing is a total red herring. Over the next five years Spannish and French Fishing fleets will register UK subsidiary companies and carry on as if nothing has happened. Meanwhile UK fleets loose access to EU waters that accounts for around one third of the catch.

[adrianlloyd]

This deal is as oven-ready as my frozen turkey.

[hedgefundguy]

Just remember that economist’s predictions are always based on assumptions which almost never hold true. Thus one should take that forecast at the end with a pinch of salt. This is from someone who studied Economics for 4 years.

[CbaDropDead]

Question😅
So does this mean we can't be involved in Eurovision anymore? 😂

[escfxp]

Not over yet and this will end in tears for the UK I predict.

[FreeRsGuides]

It only took them 4.5 years and 3 prime minister's, amazing work by the UK gov

[justinadavies]

I honestly now believe that those who voted out, had NO idea what they were voting for. Ignorance Is Bliss

[geertdecoster]

Barriers are barriers, fishes need pasports, no student exchange any more, partnership council with the EU will somehow be better, and then the EU listing what the UK loses. No surprise!