Boris Johnson says UK is now free to do things better than Europe as Brexit transition period ends

The UK is no longer part of the single market and customs union after the Brexit transition period ended at 11pm on December 31 bringing the new trade deal with the EU into law.

The Prime Minister said the moment marks a “new beginning in our country’s history and a new relationship with the EU as their biggest ally”.

But after the approval of a trade deal by Parliament in just one day, business leaders warned that more help was needed for firms who deal with Europe.

Matthew Fell, Chief UK Policy Director for the Confederation of British Industry, said: “New Year brings a new beginning for our relationship with the EU. Brexit will be what we make of it and a strong start can be a real platform to build from in the future.

“It’s incumbent on both sides to minimise disruption and keep goods moving as businesses get to grips with the changes from 1 January.

“It’s something of a surprise that businesses still do not yet know what awaits them as vehicles roll off and how each Member State will marshal the new rules on day one. Authorities can help by relying on pragmatism rather than penalties. Honest mistakes should be coached, not penalised in the coming weeks.”

In a New Year message last night, Boris Johnson said the country faced a “hard struggle” in the coming weeks and months as it tackled the new variant of coronavirus. But he said that “as the sun rises tomorrow on 2021” it had the “certainty” of vaccines like the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab approved on Wednesday.

He said it was “pioneered in a UK that is also free to do things differently, and if necessary better, than our friends in the EU”.

He added: “Free to do trade deals around the world and free to turbocharge our ambition to be a science superpower.

“From biosciences to artificial intelligence, and with our world-leading battery and wind technology we will work with partners around the world, not just to tackle climate change but to create the millions of high skilled jobs this country will need not just this year – 2021 - as we bounce back from Covid, but in the years to come.

“This is an amazing moment for this country. We have our freedom in our hands and it is up to us to make the most of it.”

In Leave-voting Middlesbrough yesterday, shoppers said they were glad a deal has been forged and the UK’s exit was sealed some four-and-a-half years after the 2016 referendum.

Catherine Archer, 56, from Ingleby Barwick in North Yorkshire, said: “It’s absolutely fine. I wanted it. We needed to sort ourselves out and govern ourselves - make sure that everything we want to do, we don’t have to go to Europe to get ‘yes’ or ‘no’ ‘for it.

Mrs Archer said: "I don't really know much about what we're getting out of it. I understand it's all to do with fishing and things like that.

"As long as we can start having our own say on what we're doing, it's alright by me."