Photographer: Paul Grover / WPA Pool / Getty Images
Photographer: Paul Grover / WPA Pool / Getty Images
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said major changes will follow in Britain following his government’s trade deal with the European Union, ending the separation of the bloc country, Telegraph reported.
“We can’t suddenly decide we’re free and then not decide how to exercise it,” Johnson told the Sunday Telegraph in his first interview. the agreement was concluded on December 24. “This government has a very clear agenda to unite and raise the bar and spread opportunities across the country.”
The agreement on Britain’s exit from the single market and the EU customs union will allow trade in goods without tariffs and without quotas after 31 December. It does not apply to the service industry – about 80% of the UK economy – or financial services. The agreement establishes a new framework for businesses on both sides of the Channel, which allows UK businesses to face more barriers to trade than when the UK was a member of the EU, while freeing the British Parliament from many of the constraints imposed by EU accession.
Now that it has gained more freedom to independently set regulations and financial and immigration policies, Britain would not “diverge for the sake of divergence,” he said. But he would “do things differently where it is useful to the British people.”
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Johnson said his threats to move away from talks and allow the UK to leave the EU on January 1 were genuine and not a negotiating tactic. The deal was concluded because EU negotiators knew Britain would act with “absolute conviction” and “get up and leave,” he said.
Negotiators in the UK have managed to “neutralize” the EU’s efforts to force the UK to step up its standards in the future. These EU efforts have been “greatly diminished,” he said.
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The EU also faces a low risk of Britain slapping tariffs on its goods in areas where UK regulations are stricter than those in the EU.
“We could do it … but it’s unlikely to do it because we don’t really believe in tariffs,” he told the newspaper. “We believe in high standards. If the EU were to do so, it would have to be proportionate and approved by the arbitrator. “