Brexit Deal is a Major Triumph

 

First published in the www.suffolkfreepress.co.uk & www.dissexpress.co.uk Thursday, January 7, 2021.

I’ve recently taken up clay pigeon shooting, a healthy and COVID-secure outdoor sport that encourages good hand/eye coordination.

Each sport has its own language and my current one is no different. A clean hit of the circular targets is known as a "kill", a missed target is a "bird away" and the machine which projects the targets is known as a "trap".

I don’t know whether Boris Johnson participates in shooting of any kind, but I sincerely believe that the trade deal he and his chief negotiator, David Frost has brokered with the European Union was closer to a kill than a bird away.

The essence of the 1246 pages of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement is that the Prime Minister has avoided virtually all the pitfalls that his woeful predecessor fell into during her turbulent time in the role.

Fundamentally, UK businesses and citizens now know where they stand as regards the 27 EU countries. The uncertainty of the last four and a half years is finally over. 

The deal has ensured that there will be no quotas, tariffs or other protectionist nonsense imposed on exports of British goods into the EU. This fundamental cornerstone of free trade is, of course, reciprocated with EU imports also avoiding such shenanigans, ensuring that consumers in this country will not be forced to pay inflated prices because of the deal.

The European Court of Justice will have no further say whatsoever as to how we conduct our lives in this country – a major climbdown by Michel Barnier. We will have control over our borders as well and will be better able to implement an immigration system that works for Britain and those who come here to live and to work.

In short, Boris Johnson, derided and belittled by leftists and the cosmopolitan elite alike, has delivered an historic achievement with this deal. His fearlessness in seeing off the threats of the EU’s unelected bureaucrats and the muddled and contradictory positions adopted by the increasingly ridiculous Keir Starmer. 

This is a major triumph for Boris personally and politically for his party in delivering on the mandate achieved in 2019. This is what taking back control looks like.

Within my own sector – logistics and transport – there has also been some good, collateral, news as a result of the deal. From the beginning of this year, importers of goods coming into the UK, whether from within the EU or elsewhere, could have been liable to pay VAT up front.

Now, import VAT will be accounted for on the importers/traders’ periodic returns. This is a cash-flow bonus to importers/traders. Every little helps. 

Of course, we have had to make compromises, some easier to accept than others. Some birds did get away, to an extent.

The situation with fisheries is the most high-profiled compromise, but even here the promise of taking back control is within reach. UK fishing boats will get a greater share of the fish from UK waters over a five and a half year period. From 2026, the UK government has the option to completely exclude EU boats from that point onwards.

There are also concerns over the equivalence requirements that may cause some short-term issues for British-based financial services companies easily accessing some EU markets. But as the chancellor Rishi Sunak intimated, this could be a chance to innovate and do things better and more sustainably.

In short, this is as good an outcome as we could have hoped-for, given the EU’s dogmatism and general intransigence. The UK now has the opportunity to once again drive forward its own prosperity by both trading with the EU but also other parts of the world in an equal and mutually beneficial manner.

Well done, Boris for all your negotiation 'kills'.