UK, EU Strike Deal On Withdrawal Agreement As BoJo Warns Brexit Breakthrough Could Be “Tricky”

The pound has caught a bid Tuesday morning on news that the UK has decided to pull several offending clauses of its “Intermarket bill”, which would have effectively overriden some of the UK’s commitments from the withdrawal agreement, prompting Brussels to walk away from the table.

Talks related to the Intermarket bill were being led by Michael Gove, one of BoJo’s top cabinet officials and a one-time rival for the PM job, who announced the agreement on Twitter.

Delighted to announce agreement in principle on all issues in the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee. Thank you to @MarosSefcovic and his team for their constructive and pragmatic approach.

I will be updating Parliament tomorrow.https://t.co/xtJ25h6ymu pic.twitter.com/OKYPLxV0jZ

— Michael Gove (@michaelgove) December 8, 2020

The UK has agreed to withdrawal the three offending provisions after Gove traveled to Brussels to secure the deal. Here’s more from the Telegraph.

The UK and EU has struck a compromise “on all issues” in the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee, Michael Gove has confirmed. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster was in Brussels yesterday, in a bid to agree all outstanding issues, including those relating to the Irish border. The agreement means that concerns over the EU’s threat that it will check goods travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland have been resolved.

In view of these mutually agreed solutions, the UK will withdraw clauses 44, 45 and 47 of the UK Internal Market Bill, and not introduce any similar provisions in the Taxation Bill,” the Government said in a statement.

Earlier on Tuesday, Boris Johnson warned that securing a final trade deal with Europe would be “tricky” given the vast differences on the issues of fisheries, governance and the “level playing field”. Of these three, fisheries access and the level playing field are said to be the most difficult sticking points.

The pound rallied on the new, but Wall Street analysts remain wary as BoJo has ruled out both an extension to the transition period, and a resumption of talks after the new year.