EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement

Lord Bhatia Excerpts

Friday 8th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bhatia (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, Britain and the European Union have struck a Brexit deal that will define their relationship for decades to come. The Prime Minister hailed the agreement as

“a ‘great treaty’ that allowed the UK to ‘take back control of our destiny’ and resolve a question that had ‘bedevilled’ British politics for decades,”

as reported by the Times. The EU also made similar statements. It has taken many years of negotiations, which finally ended with a document of some 1,200 pages. What started as a referendum under Prime Minister Cameron consumed three other Prime Ministers and gave Boris Johnson the honour of reaching an agreement with the EU. Both sides are looking at the details of the agreement and, as they say, the devil is in the details. That is where the attention of politicians will focus from now on. Generally, it is a relief for Parliament and the public, as the focus will now shift to dealing with the pandemic and the damage done to the economy, to both large and small businesses. It remains to be seen as to how history will judge Boris Johnson in the coming two to three decades.