Spain has reached an settlement with the UK to maintain Gibraltar’s border open following the tip of the Brexit transition interval tonight.
Gibraltar’s standing was not coated within the commerce settlement reached by Boris Johnson on Christmas Eve, prompting issues about what would occur when the transition interval ends at 11pm.
Nonetheless Spain’s international minister mentioned Gibraltar, whose sovereignty is disputed by Spain and Britain, will stay topic to the rule of the free-travel Schengen space.
Arancha Gonzalez Laya introduced that the “settlement in precept” means folks in Gibraltar “can breathe a sigh of reduction”.
International Secretary Dominic Raab mentioned: “Right this moment, working aspect by aspect with the chief minister of Gibraltar, and following intensive discussions with the Spanish authorities, we reached settlement on a political framework to kind the premise of a separate treaty between the UK and the EU concerning Gibraltar.
“We’ll now ship this to the European Fee, so as to provoke negotiations on the formal treaty.
“Within the meantime, all sides are dedicated to mitigating the results of the tip of the transition interval on Gibraltar, and particularly guarantee border fluidity, which is clearly in the most effective pursuits of the folks dwelling on each side.
“We stay steadfast in our help for Gibraltar and its sovereignty.”
Observe dwell updates under.
05:12 PM
Nigel Farage says he ‘would not qualify’ for a knighthood
Mr Farage tells me that he would not imagine he would be supplied a knighthood in any case.
Requested if he would settle for the honour if he was … nicely, it wasn’t a no.
He says: “I do not assume I qualify. Having watched hours of debate final night time within the Lords I realised to get an honour it’s important to be a part of the ‘stay institution’.”
Mr Farage provides that he will likely be celebrating tonight by having a quiet one “with a glass of one thing good”.
“I’d’ve gone to a the pub however cannot.
“I checked out a helicopter to the Scilly Isles the place the pubs are open … nevertheless it was too costly.”
05:05 PM
Sir Nigel Farage?
Some have known as him Mr Brexit so it may appear becoming that Nigel Farage is odds-on to be knighted within the subsequent 5 years with Ladbrokes.
The bookies make it a 4/5 shot the Brexiteer is given the honour by the tip of 2025, and it is simply 6/4 he’s knighted in 2021 throughout the summer season or New 12 months gongs.
Jessica O’Reilly of Ladbrokes mentioned: “Love him or detest him, Farage has had an enormous function to play throughout Brexit and the percentages counsel he’ll be rewarded on the highest degree.”
Newest betting figures
Nigel Farage to be knighted in June 2021 3/1
Nigel Farage to be knighted in 2021 (June or December) 6/4
Nigel Farage to be knighted by finish of 2025 4/5
04:47 PM
So what’s all of the fuss about?
Brussels Correspondent, James Crisp, has been following the Brexit journey for years.
He provides his take under:
AT the stroke of 11pm the UK will depart the EU single market and customs union. It will likely be the ultimate step in a course of lasting about 4 years, that started with a referendum in 2016.
It should imply that commerce between the UK and the EU is tougher – the brand new commerce deal settlement, which was signed on Christmas Eve, not withstanding.
However that friction is the value paid to win again UK sovereignty relating to setting guidelines and laws.
The problem for this and future governments is to show that that financial worth is price paying and that the benefits of being extra nimble and freed from Brussels’ regulatory orbit is price it ultimately.
04:29 PM
Migrants make 5am New 12 months’s Eve sprint
This morning, underneath the duvet of darkness, 33 migrants on 4 boats crossed the Channel in a determined try to succeed in the UK earlier than Brexit.
My colleague, Jamie Johnson, who has reported extensively on the migrant disaster, writes that in 2020, some 8,400 folks arrived on British shores having left northern France – 4 instances as many as in 2019.
On New 12 months’s Eve, males have been photographed in shorts and flip flops on the dockside in Dover, having been taken ashore by Border Power officers after crossing at 5am.
As Britain leaves the EU, Dwelling Secretary Priti Patel has vowed to repair the “basically damaged” asylum system within the UK to make it “agency and truthful”, promising to introduce new laws in 2021 for the “greatest overhaul” of the system in “many years”.
Learn extra of the story right here.
04:17 PM
New 12 months’s Eve
Welcome all.
It could be New 12 months’s Eve however with no events to go to and no social mixing allowed, The Telegraph is bringing you a dwell Brexit Weblog to mark the tip of the transition interval.
From 11pm tonight Britain can have formally left the European Union.
Till then we are going to convey you all the newest information.
So seize some bubbly, sit down and see within the New 12 months with us.