SO WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?

THE NORTH AND THE BORDER

STILL the thorniest issue in the talks. EU and UK negotiators will include new text in the draft agreement that formalises the ‘backstop’ agreement reached in December. This says that in the absence of a better solution, Northern Ireland would effectively remain in the EU’s customs union.

However Tory MPs and the DUP insist there can be no customs border in the Irish Sea that would effectively divide the UK. Theresa May said it was something ‘no UK prime minister could ever agree’.

There is no obvious sign of how the UK can be outside of the EU’s customs union without having any physical border in Ireland. Efectively the can has been kicked down the road.

EXIT TIMING

BRITAIN will formally leave the EU at 11pm on March 29 next year, but will then enter a transition phase during which little will change.

British ministers claim this period – which will end on December 31, 2020 – is needed to give certainty. However, UK Remain-supporting cabinet ministers and treasury officials had lobbied for a period of at least five years.

FREEDOM TO SIGN TRADE DEALS

DURING the transition period, Britain will be free to negotiate, sign and ratify new trade deals with non-EU countries. Brexit supporters are keen to paint this as one of the great opportunities of leaving the EU.

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT

ALTHOUGH free movement will formally end next March, EU nationals will in effect keep all their rights to go to Britain – and settle – until the end of 2020. They will also be free to bring in family members, but will have to register with the British authorities.

FISHING

BRITAIN will have to wait another year to decide its own fishing policy, and during 2019 it will in effect stay in the Common Fisheries Policy.

The failure to take back control of a totemic Brexit issue has enraged Leavers. Theresa May’s concession yesterday will heap pressure on her not to give in on fishing in the final deal.