this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the european union and united kingdom have finally reached a post—brexit trade deal — after months of disagreement. both sides hailed it a success. it was a long and winding road, but we have got a good deal to show for it. it is fair, it is a balanced deal. and it is the right and responsible thing to do for both sides. i am very pleased to tell you this afternoon that we have completed the biggest trade deal yet worth £660 billion a year, a comprehensive, canada—style free trade deal between the uk and the eu. the eu's chief negotiator,

michel barnier, said the clock is no longer ticking, and expressed his relief that a deal has been agreed. the final hurdle was access to fishing waters. some fishing unions in the uk have spoken of their frustration and anger at the deal. and what does the brexit deal mean for business, trade and travel — we'll unpick what we know so far. four and a half years after britain voted to leave the eu, a post—brexit trade deal has finally been agreed. the uk prime minister borisjohnson said britain had achieved a 600 and 60 billion pound per year trade agreement — which would protect jobs. but the opposition labour party said the deal was thin and didn't protect workers. one of the main stumbling blocks was fishing quotas.

under the plans, mrjohnson said britain would eventually take full control of its waters, with its share of fishing rights rising over a five and a half year period. the prime minister told a news conference at downing street that britain had taken back control of its laws and destiny. mrjohnson said the deal was fantastic, and gave stability and certainty. in brussels, president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, said it was a ‘fair and balanced deal‘. the 2000 page document — which has not yet been published — now has to be approved by the uk parliament next week. it also has to be endorsed by members of the european parliament. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon said brexit was happening ‘against scotland‘s will‘ and no deal would ever make up for what brexit had taken away. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg reports. time is finally up. a deal at last agreed, that number ten believes will pull power back to this building from brussels.

a vast trade and security agreement the prime minister and brexiteers promised. until a matter of hours ago, it wasn‘t guaranteed, but look, the optimist really did have something to cheer. his ubiquitous thumbs up, achievement relief written all over his face. i am very pleased to tell you this afternoon we have completed the biggest trade deal yet, worth £660 billion a year, a comprehensive canada—style free trade deal between the uk and the eu. because although we have left the eu, this country will remain culturally, emotionally, historically strategically, geologically attached to europe. can you tell the public honestly, where did the uk give the most ground and where did the eu compromise the most, do you think?

it would be fair to say that we wanted, we wanted to make sure, for instance, that we got access to, got complete control over our fisheries from the get go, and that is to say we had annual negotiations on fisheries within the shortest possible delay. the eu began with, i think, wanting a transition period of 1a years, we wanted three years, we have ended up at five years. i think that was a reasonable transition period. the tally of losses and wins may take years to settle. talks through the early hours in brussels sustained by pizza tangled over the specific quotas of different species of fish. but getting this far was never a question ofjust minor detail, but settling or smudging perhaps profound differences of view. so we have finally

found an agreement. it was a long and winding road, but we have got a good deal to show for it. it is fair, it is a balanced deal, and it is the right and responsible thing to do for both sides. what has been achieved, a truly vast trade deal, that will shape a vital relationship for a long time to come. the uk should be free of european law too, despite the warnings at the start. this is a landmark moment in the the country and the tory party‘s trouble relationship with the european union. and what has been avoided is potential disruption and political embarrassment of a failure to agree. but within some 2,000 pages of dense text in black and white there may be some hidden pain, and the scales that will balance the costs and opportunity of brexit may not be settled for many years to come. for the inhabitants of number ten this has been a long wait.

boris johnson‘s tenure may be defined by what is grabbed and gained. and what slipped from grasp. but the prime minister‘s reputation is the least of it. the very nature of the country poised to change. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. the leader of the uk‘s opposition labour party — sir keir starmer — gave his reaction to the deal. he said his party would support the deal, but was adamant a better one could have been reached. it is not the deal that the government promised. far from it. and there are serious questions about the government‘s preparedness for the new arrangements. as ever, leaving everything to the last minute has made it even more difficult for businesses to be ready. a better deal could have been negotiated. of course the trade deal will apply across the nations of the uk, so how have they received it?

the first minister of wales, mark drakeford, said the deal was not what he had hoped it would be. the welsh government has long argued that a deal was far preferable to no deal. in that sense, we are glad to see a deal struck today. but this is not the deal that we were promised. it will still be a difficult deal for wales, but it provides a platform from to which we can return to argue for improvements in the future. and northern ireland‘s first minister arlene foster gave her reaction to today‘s agreement between the uk and the eu. we have always urged for a sensible deal to be done, particularly with the northern ireland protocol. it always made it more easier if we had a sensible deal in place. clearly we will want to see to detail the deal, particular around security cooperation to which of course is very important to northern ireland. but look, this is good news that we should welcome and it is such and i will look

forward to moving forward in the joint committee as well to make sure that we have as least friction as we possibly can. reaction from scotland — ian blackford, the leader of the scottish national party in the house of commons — said the deal was a disaster for the nation. we have been taken out of the single market and the customs union. brexit has already cost us jobs and there is no question that this will be something which will be detrimental to our interest. let‘s remember that 80% of our economy is service based. and there is no deal for services here. of course a deal was better than a no deal but let‘s not lose sight of the fact that this is a hard brexit. we were told we back in 2014 when we had a referendum and scottish independence in that if we stayed at the uk our braces eu and scottish independence in that if we stayed at the uk our rights as eu citizens would be respected. that has ended as a consequence of this deal today. and of course i think there is real sadness that young people that have

benefited in the past from the project will no longer do so. the opportunity and social education opportunity to work collaboratively across europe to get an education in europe are stopped and that is a deliberate choice the uk government and the membership of them was there for the uk if they wanted to take it and they refused to do so. it is a sad day for pan—european cooperation. it does mean for us in scotland that if we want to protect our identity and our rights as eu citizens, the only way we can do that is by scotland becoming an independent country. the eu‘s chief negotiator, michel barnier, expressed his relief that a deal has been agreed... the clock is no longer ticking. after four years of collective eu unity to preserve peace and stability on the island of ireland, to protect the citizens and the single markets, to build a new partnership with the uk. thank you all, thank you all. this is the work of so many women

and men here in the commission, madam president, all the services and in particular that eu task force for brexit and in the member states, the council, the european parliament, i also pay tribute also to the eu—uk negotiating team and the chief negotiator, david frost, and the eu deputies. 0ur europe correspondent kevin connolly was listening to michel barnier and he gave us his assesment of reaction in brussels. michel barnier they really technocratic figure so when a man like that starts giving what basically sounds like an oscars a cce pta nce basically sounds like an oscars acceptance speech, you know there is acceptance speech, you know there is a sense of occasion and brussels, but the sense of occasion here is different of course to the sense of occasion in london. brexit is still

a matter of regret and the european union. they didn‘t want the uk to go. they miss the uk. they have seen it as go. they miss the uk. they have seen itasa go. they miss the uk. they have seen it as a challenge to be managed, with the minimum possible disruption to the european union. their goal has been to defend the integrity of the single market and to attain their political unity under the pressure of negotiation. so they feel they have achieved all of that. but ursula von der leyen, a remarkable linguist who speaks pretty much perfect english, she managed to quote both of the beatles and shakespeare and saying goodbye to this phase of the british relationship. and she said britain come of course remains a trusted partner and ally from a country we shared values and shared interests, so shared values and shared interests, so there is relief here come a sense thejob has been done, the processes been menaced, but there is nojoy, and celebration, it has been seen as

and celebration, it has been seen as a bureaucratic task which is been successfully executed. —— the process has been to manage. business leaders have welcomed the trade deal saying it has come as a "huge relief" despite being so late in the day. the details of the 2000 page document will be poured over in the hours and days to come. it finally gives businesses some certainty — but there are still big challenges ahead with just days until the uk leaves the eu. here‘s our business editor simonjack. it has been a hard one to land, but after a titanic struggle over fish, the uk has finally netted a trade deal, a perfect last minute christmas present for businesses that feared the damaging consequences of cutting ourselves adrift from the eu. this is a huge relief to british industry. our economy has suffered an awful lot of damage this year and we couldn‘t really take any more. so, yes, we are still to see the details, but i think a tariff—

and quota—free deal means that our factories and farmers stay in business. we now have 2,000 pages and seven days to be ready. so, we‘re going to need immediate guidance for businesses. we‘re going to need to agree with the europeans a period of adjustment so that all of this doesn‘t come into play overnight, in seven days‘ time. without a deal, cheddar cheese from the uk could have faced tariffs of up to 50%. wyke farms exports 4,000 tons of it to the eu every year. we're hugely relieved that we've got certainty now and we know we've got tariff—free access to europe. the tariffs for our business at wyke farms would have amounted to over £4 million per year, and then we would have had all the complications about how we pass that onto customers, who is going to pay it? because we certainly didn't have the financial resources to pay it. so, it would have been hugely complicated and really damaging to what amounts to about 30%

of our business. but uk business is not home and dry. traders will still face a new raft of paperwork and cost, over 200 million additional customs forms will need completing, at a cost of over £7 billion. haulage companies warn many businesses are not ready for this new normal. celebrations may be brief. simon jack, bbc news. of all of the issues thrashed out in the brexit trade negotiations, none has proved as hard to crack as the issue of fishing. leaving the eu‘s common fisheries policy was touted as a key benefit of brexit, with britain in theory being able to control who fished in its waters and how much fish they were allowed to catch. barrie deas is the chief executive of the national federation of fishermen‘s organisations and explained what the industries hopes were for the deal... what we wanted was actually nothing very extraordinary, just the same relationship that the eu currently has with norway, which is another independent coastal state. so annual negotiations,

quotas that reflect the fish resources in each other‘s waters, in respective waters. access arrangements that are agreed as part of those annual negotiations. and what we have got is something much less than that. of course, the eu have made this artificial linkage between trade and fish because they have a relatively weak negotiating position on fish, so they made this linkage and i think to some extent it has paid off. we will hear echoes of 1973 and ted heath when fishing was considered expendable, which set up this whole sorry trail and left a toxic legacy that has lasted for many years and came back, of course, with a vengeance in the referendum. there will certainly be those that see this as selling out because we were promised and given assurances that our quotas would be based on zone attachment.

that is a scientific assessment of the resources in each other‘s waters. fishing finds itself in an unusual position with high political priority. we felt that this was our moment in the sun, really. our concern is that five years down the line, will fishing still have the same kind of priority? so i think that‘s why there will be disappointment in the ports tonight. let‘s get some analysis now from steven erlanger, chief diplomatic correspondent for the new york times. he gave his reaction to the deal.

it is pretty close to one. the advantage of not being a politician is i don‘t have to try to spin it one way or another. itjust seems to me in any negotiation there was going to be concessions on both sides made concessions. the eu always had a stronger hand. it which is bigger. and it weighs more. britain‘s gdp is much more dependent on trade european union then vice versa. at the same time, the eu did want to protect single markets against future competition. they wanted to assert its sovereignty and a sense that it is not any longer subject to the european court of justice and etc. and yet it wanted a trade deal that was not actually quite thin. it is not the single market, it is simply to have a quota free, tariff—free trade deal, mostly for goods while the british economy is mostly services.

it is a narrow deal but i think it is important for both sides and both sides can feel satisfied. and i think frankly to be honest with the impact of covid—i9 on everybody‘s economy, to have had a no deal at this point what i think have been reckless and i think voters all over the continent would have asked what their leaders were doing to pile more economic damage on top of what has already been done. so i think both sides were pushed into a deal, notjust by the deadline, but by actually the virus itself, the eu wants a decent relationship with britain, germany was particularly important in stressing that a relationship with britain going forward really mattered and it matters for nato,

and matters for european security, there was no real way of germany wanted britain adrift. so given that, i think the eu did make a lot of concessions on fishing in particular, this is something borisjohnson can claim as a great victory but of course the british had to giveaway on other things that mattered like basically respecting european union regulations and this phrase, the level playing field, going forward into the future. so i think it is a pretty balanced deal. they were keen in brussels for the deal not to be too good for the uk. they didn‘t want other countries to be inspired by it. so interesting to hear all the warm words and the talk of how good of a deal it is from the brussels side and they are very warm words. today they are saying things like shared interests and values and how we will stand together in the future. you are right on both counts.

one, there was a lot of panic four and half years ago in brussels that brexit would start a whole wave of other countries exiting, and the fact is it scared enough people that it actually integrated the european union. one of the greatest successes to me of michel barnier to me of michel barnier was to hold these 27 very different countries, with very different relationships with britain together and not let britain pick them off one by one. but at the same time, when you look at the world, let‘s look at the bigger world, global britain and the world, with the rise of china and the rise of asia, the countries of the west let‘s call them that believe in democracy, they believe in rule of law, freedom of the individual, transparent justice, it is becoming a smaller, smaller group of people.

and i think if the west divides itself, it simply opens up routes for more authoritarian regimes to widen those disputes and create divisions. and i think this is really part of what is going on. germany, france, you know, they know they are medium—size powers. and they are best off together. europe is not britain, britain was always a bit of an island power. we will see how well he goes. we will see how well it goes. but i think in general, in brussels, there is a great desire to have a good relationship with a nato member, a nuclear power, a member of the security council, somebody who shares their values, who is democratic, and is after all a very vibrant economy. so i think the warm words are also real.

today‘s agreement follows a four and a half year period of political turbulence and long, tense negotiations. nick beake takes a look at how we got to the deal. britain stunned the european union injune 2016 by voting to leave. it is an earthquake that has happened. independence day! david cameron, the prime minister who had offered the referendum, resigned. the british people have made a very clear decision to take a different path. theresa may stepped up. brexit means brexit, and we are going to make a success of it. but it was not that simple. it was going to become a long and arduousjourney, with high drama here in brussels and back in the uk. and along the way, certain faces and phrases became very familiar.

you cannot have your cake and eat it, too. cherry picking... the clock is now ticking. michelle barnier was appointed eu‘s chief negotiator for agreeing a divorce deal. his opposite numbers would come and go. david davies... dominic raab... devon barclay... david foster... it was all a sign of how brexit split the government, families, and the country as a whole. in 2017, theresa may lost her parliamentary majority. a year later, she was still trying to manoeuvre towards a deal. the eu was sometimes in step. but often not. there is no room whatsoever for renegotiation. eventually the two sides settled the uk‘s final bill, citizen‘s rights and a solution for avoiding a hard border on the island of ireland. the british parliament rejected the deal three times, much to the fury of brussels.

i‘ve been wondering what this special place in hell looks like for all those who promoted brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it safely. in the summer of 2019, theresa may‘s time was up. ..with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country i love. new pm borisjohnson finally rammed home a brexit deal, after winning a snap election. british meps said goodbye to the european parliament and, in january this year, the uk officially left the eu, although it would abide by its rules in a transition period the rest of 2020. now is the moment to come together and write a new and exciting chapter in our national story! to forge a new partnership with our european friends,

to stand tall in the world, to begin the healing! but no one could have predicted what happened next. just as talks were getting under way to find another deal, a trade agreement between the uk and eu, coronavirus struck. diplomacy through masks continued, but big differences emerged on trade competitions, fishing and how to resolve future disputes. an agreement between the uk and european union seems unlikely. the eu has found it difficult to accept that the uk is a sovereign equal. but with the pandemic pummelling european economies, leaders reached out. and, finally, a brexit trade deal was done. nick beake, bbc news, brussels. a reminder of our top story. a post—brexit trade deal has finally been agreed four and a half years after the uk voted to leave the european union. wa nt to want to more news and analysis on

oui’ want to more news and analysis on our website. that‘s plenty more news. thank you for watching. the skies are clearing across most of the uk. a starry, frosty night ahead. and that means that first thing in the morning, there is going to be a widespread frost on the ground. in fact, for england it could end up being the coldest christmas day in ten years or so. you can see the gap in the clouds there across the uk during the course of christmas eve, but that massive cloud in the north atlantic, that is a storm. it‘s brewing, heading in our direction, and it will arrive later on boxing day, but in the short term, it‘s quiet on the weather front, just in time for christmas. so here is the forecast through the early hours. you can see hardly a cloud in the sky across most of the uk but in the northwest year however,

the weather is ever ever so slowly turning. frost free around western isles and parts of northern ireland, down to minus six degrees across parts of england and wales and also southern and eastern scotland. so, here is friday, christmas day itself, you can see a lot of fine, bright, sunny weather and places. temperatures 4—5 , but that weather is turning in the western aisles and northern ireland, a hint of things to come, so make the most of christmas day, walk off that christmas dinner, because by the time we get to boxing day, storm bella will be knocking on the door. it‘s a large storm. the weather in the morning will deteriorate in the northwest of the country. the rain will sweep in, winds freshen and, in fact, the winds will start to strengthen across many western areas of the uk. now, this is a snapshot of the afternoon, probably not too bad in the south and southeast, but later in the evening, the winds really will ramp up. in fact, it‘s prompted the met office to issue an amber warning for the severe gales, gusts of wind 70—80 mph, damaging,

also damaging across other parts of england and wales, so a wild saturday night on the way as this large storm sweeps across the country, not just the wind, but also the heavy rain you can see moving into southern parts of the uk in the early hours of sunday morning. and then sunday itself, we are right in the centre of that storm, so that means that the winds will die down. there will be some showers around, but we can expect some sunny spells on sunday itself, and it‘s going to be chilly. merry christmas.

this is bbc world news.

the headlines... the european union and united kingdom have finally reached a post—brexit trade deal after months of disagreement. both sides hailed it a success. the european commission president ursula von der leyen described it as a "good, fair and balanced deal". she said she hoped for a continued close relationship. prime minister boris johnson said the uk has "completed the biggest trade deal yet", adding, "we have taken back control of our money, borders, laws, trade and our fishing waters". michel barnier said the clock is no longer ticking and he expressed his belief that a deal has been agreed. and the traditional midnight is underway in bethlehem, only this year the public have to stay away because of the coronavirus.