- A new era has begun for the United Kingdom after it completed its formal separation from the European Union.
- The UK stopped following EU rules at 23:00 GMT, as replacement arrangements for travel, trade, immigration and security co-operation came into force.
- Boris Johnson said the UK had ‘freedom in our hands’ and the ability to do things ‘differently and better’ now the long Brexit process was over.
- But opponents of leaving the EU maintain the country will be worse off.
According to a recent news report in BBC, UK has formally got separated from European Union.
What about Scotland?
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, whose ambition it is to take an independent Scotland back into the EU, tweeted: “Scotland will be back soon, Europe. Keep the light on.”
BBC Europe editor Katya Adler said there was a sense of relief in Brussels that the Brexit process was over, “but there is regret still at Brexit itself”.
New rules unwind
UK ministers have warned there will be some disruption in the coming days and weeks, as new rules bed in and British firms come to terms with the changes.
But officials have insisted new border systems are “ready to go”.
As the first customs checks were completed after midnight, Eurotunnel spokesman John Keefe said: “It all went fine, everything’s running just as it was before 11pm.”
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland has different arrangements from other parts of the UK, meaning there will be some customs checks on goods moving between Great Britain and the province.
Logistic bottlenecks
Seamus Leheny, policy manager at Logistics UK, said six out of the 15 lorries that were on the first ship to arrive into Belfast were brought in for inspection, with one being kept at the port for more than three hours.
“Inevitably there are going to be teething problems because with such a new, complex system as this there are going to be issues in the first few days,” he told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme.
Mandy Ridyard, whose aerospace components company makes daily shipments to Northern Ireland, told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme she was “filling in the same declaration to send goods to the Philippines that I am sending them within the UK”.
“And obviously that all adds a lot of cost to my business.”
What is changing?
The culmination of the Brexit process means major changes in different areas. These include:
- The free movement of people between the UK and EU countries has ended – and has been replaced in the UK by a “points-based” immigration system.
- Anyone from the UK who wants to stay in most of the EU for more than 90 days in any 180-day period now needs a visa.
- Duty-free shopping has returned, with people coming back to the UK from the EU able to bring up to 42 litres of beer, 18 litres of wine, four litres of spirits and 200 cigarettes without paying tax.
- EU citizens wanting to move to the UK (except those from Ireland) face the same points-based system as people elsewhere in the world
- UK police have lost instant access to EU-wide databases on criminal records, fingerprints and wanted persons.
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Source: BBC
