Theresa May this morning agreed a Brexit divorce deal with the European Union, paving the way for the negotiations to move onto future trade talks. After a pre-dawn meeting in Brussels, the Prime Minister joined European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in announcing the breakthrough.
Key points of the deal:
- UK will keep paying money to the EU for years with a total divorce bill estimated at £40bn
- There will be no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
- Agreement on protection for EU citizens in the UK and British citizens in the EU
- DUP leader Arlene Foster satisfied there would now be ‘no red line down the Irish Sea’
- The European Court of Justice will have an influence in UK courts for 8 years after Brexit
- The EU wants freedom of movement to continue during the Brexit transition period
- The NI border text means that in the case of no deal, the UK will have ‘full alignment’