Brexit news – live: Gibraltar to stay in EU’s Schengen zone, as PM’s deal branded ‘worst in 40 years’

Boris Johnson has welcomed the agreement in principle for Gibraltar to maintain freedom of movement within the EU’s Schengen zone – though he is keen to point his commitment to the territory’s “British sovereignty”.

Confirmation from the UK of arrangements for Gibraltar. Foreign secretary Dominic Raab said the British government had “reached agreement on a political framework to form the basis of a separate treaty between the UK and the EU regarding Gibraltar”.

Raab added: “We will now send this to the European Commission, in order to initiate negotiations on the formal treaty. In the meantime, all sides are committed to mitigating the effects of the end of the transition period on Gibraltar, and in particular ensure border fluidity, which is clearly in the best interests of the people living on both sides.”

There will be no triumphant scenes in Parliament Square – but Brexit supporters are determined to mark the moment the long, messy process finally becomes real at 11pm.

The choice of tipple? Former UKIP deputy chair Suzanne Evans will raise a glass of “beautiful Winbirri English sparkling wine”.

Lance Forman, a former Brexit Party MEP, has something more complicated worked out. “I shall pour myself two glasses of fizz – one French champagne and the other English sparkling. First, I shall drink the French to say goodbye and then the English, to say hello.”

Emily Hewertson, who rose to fame after appearing on BBC’s Question Time, isn’t fussy about the origin of her tipple. “I will be popping open a glass of [Moet] champagne and will have a gold old sing to Rule, Britannia.”

More on the 11th-hour breakthrough to keep open Gibraltar’s border with Spain. Spanish foreign minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya has said an agreement “in principle” means people in the British territory will remain subject to rules in use in Europe’s Schengen area – eliminate general travel checks.

A compromise agreement between Spain and the UK will now be sent to Brussels, where the European Commission will enter into negotiations with London to turn it into a proper treaty, Gonzalez Laya said. She said she expected the treaty to be signed within six months. Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez also confirmed the “in principle” agreement.

Neither Downing Street nor the Foreign Office has made any immediate comment on the announcement.

Gibraltar will remain part of EU agreements such as the Schengen Area, Spain said after reaching an initial agreement with the UK over the British territory’s post-Brexit status on Thursday.

Madrid and London have been negotiating how to police the land border between Spain and Gibraltar, which was excluded from the last-minute exit deal reached with the EU last week.

The border-free, passport-less zone – named after the eponymous Luxembourg village where the agreement was signed – first came into effect in its current form back in 1995.

Britain and Ghana are close to an agreement on post-Brexit trade – but a deal will not happen in time to prevent a period of trading on World Trade Organisation (WTO) terms, a source close to the negotiation said on Thursday.

It means British exports to Ghana would continue to be subject to a wide array of WTO tariffs. The two sides were expected to reached consensus on the main elements of a deal soon and would look to implement as quickly as possible, the source told Reuters.

Official data shows Britain exported goods and services worth £722m to Ghana in 2019.

The government will publish legislation implementing all the continuity agreements struck by international trade secretary Liz Truss later on Thursday – accounting for 97 per cent of the trade it sought to protect. But deals still outstanding include Albania and Jordan.  

I was not selected to speak in the debate in parliament about the very late-in-the-day deal between the UK and the European Union. I was not selected to take part in the debate and so watched, as most did, from home, my vote ready to be cast by one of my colleagues who was present.  

It is the first Brexit vote where I have not been in the middle of its beating angry heart, the first time I have not had journalists and cameras shoved in my face as I made my way into parliament to cast my vote, writes Jess Phillips.

Ministers have announced a three-month grace period on new customs processes for parcels shipped into Northern Ireland from England, Wales and Scotland.

It comes after several major retailers, including John Lewis, suspended deliveries into the province amid uncertainty over new Irish Sea trading arrangements.

Under the terms of the Brexit withdrawal deal, Northern Ireland will apply EU customs rules at its ports from 11pm on New Year’s Eve. While the wider free trade deal has ruled out the prospect of tariffs on goods from Great Britain entering Northern Ireland, customs declarations will still be required. 

The government said today that until 1 April, declarations will not be required on the majority of parcels sent to Northern Ireland. Parcels requiring declarations will be those containing goods valued at more than £135 sent by GB businesses to NI businesses. 

Those businesses will also have three months to submit those declarations. Declarations will also be required for excise goods, such as alcohol, being sent from GB to NI using an express carrier or Royal Mail Group.  

Senders will need to provide their selected carrier additional information to enable declarations to be made.

The guidance does not provide any detail on what the customs arrangements will be following 1 April.

Additional reporting by PA

Boris Johnson’s father is applying for a French passport as his son leads Britain out of the European Union on Thursday, writes Graham Keeley.  

“I will always be European,” Stanley Johnson told French radio RTL, speaking in French.

As Britain prepared to leave the European Union at 11pm on Thursday, the 80-year-old former diplomat said he had applied for French citizenship.  

Boris Johnson’s Brexit trade deal with the EU has been branded the worst UK negotiation in at least 40 years by Tony Blair’s former chief of staff and the chief negotiator of the Good Friday Agreement, writes Andrew Woodcock.

Jonathan Powell said that a series of British blunders allowed the EU to get its way “on every major economic point” in the negotiation, while the UK was left with “a few sops” on state aid and the role of the European Court of Justice.

He urged Downing Street to learn from its missteps before embarking on proposed trade talks with countries like the US, as well as the “decades of permanent negotiation” with the EU which Brexit has made inevitable.