The pressure has been put on Brussels

ITWAS the political slogan that took the country by storm in the historic 2016 EU referendum.

“Take back control” somehow summed up Britain’s frustration with the EU and the way a voracious unaccountable bureaucracy in Brussels was slowly but surely extending its power over everything in public life.

While tying up business with regulations and red tape it left Britain’s borders almost completely open and forced the country to accept wave after wave of uncontrolled immigration and the costs that brought.

So the announcement today on borders is a significant moment. More than four years after the referendum vote, the Government under Boris Johnson is finally showing Britain what taking back control looks like with the opportunity to have effective border controls.

The announcement tomorrow by the Home Secretary Priti Patel on the new points-based immigration system will be an extension of that.

Both announcements are vindication for the trust voters put in Mr Johnson and the Conservatives in the December election on the promise “to get

Brexit done”.

But there is a second message here as well, not for Britain but for Michel Barnier and the EU.

With Britain now in the middle of a crucial intensive month of negotiations on a future trade and security agreement, Mr Johnson is making it clear that the UK will be more than ready for no deal.

With the admirably tough style of his chief negotiator David Frost, the British Government is leaving the EU without any doubt that not only will it be relaxed about a so-called “Australia-style deal” on

Worldtrade Organisation rules but with this investment the UK will be ready to impose tough new tariffs on EU products.

Given that the EU had a trade surplus with Britain of £72billion in 2019 this could prove to be expensive for the continent.

The pressure on Brussels to agree to a similar deal for Britain as the one it struck with Canada is now intensifying.

The days when a Remainer dominated Parliament put EU interests above British ones and did whatever Mr Barnier demanded are over. It is now the EU which is being made to sweat on the terms of the final agreement.