After Brexit: what happens now?

Britain will enter a “twilight period” from 1 February, said Jim Brunsden in the FT. It will continue contributing to the EU budget and will still be bound by EU laws for 11 months – but it will lose its seat at the decision-making table. By Monday, the UK’s 73 MEPs will have lost their jobs, Union Jacks will have been taken down all over Brussels, and Britain will be marked as a foreign country on EU maps. Yet the European Commission will still have the power to investigate breaches of EU law in the UK, and the European Court of Justice will be able to impose fines.

For citizens, life will carry on as normal until the transition period ends on 31 December this year. Free movement for both British and EU citizens will continue: travel arrangements and holidays won’t be affected. British subjects will still be able to use the EU channel at airport passport control gates, and use UK driving licences in Europe. Britain has already started introducing blue passports in place of the EU burgundy version, but there is no need to change them until they expire. For businesses, very little will change in the short term; UK-EU trade will continue without extra checks or charges during the transition period.

What follows after 31 December depends on the outcome of “unprecedented” negotiations, said Jon Henley in The Guardian. The talks – covering a “vast sweep” of areas including trade, security, fisheries, data and foreign affairs – will begin after 25 February, with a tariff- and quota-free trade deal the priority. By 1 July, the UK must decide whether to request an extension to the transition period, which Boris Johnson has ruled out. EU officials say a deal, if there is one, must be in place by 26 November for the European Parliament to approve. If no agreement is signed by 31 December, Britain will fall back on World Trade Organisation terms – effectively the same outcome as a no-deal Brexit.