Brexit: UK and Canada agree deal to keep trading under EU terms – BBC

  • The UK and Canada have agreed to roll over the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement beyond 31 December 2020 to allow the UK and Canada to keep trading under the same terms.
  • According to Boris Johnson the continuity agreement is “a fantastic agreement for Britain”.
  • Justin Trudeau suggested a new comprehensive trade agreement with the UK would take several years to negotiate.
  • The continuity agreement is subject to final checks before it is signed.

No-deal Brexit to cost more than Covid, Bank of England governor says – Guardian

  • Andrew Bailey has warned that the economic cost of a no-deal Brexit would be bigger in the long term than the damage caused by Covid-19.
  • A trade deal between London and Brussels is apparently close to being finalised, although officials have warned that the risk remains of an accidental no deal if compromises cannot be reached.
  • Over the weekend, Rishi Sunak said that Britain should not accept a deal with the EU at any price, insisting that Covid-19 posed a much greater threat to the economy than a no-deal scenario.
  • However, according to Bailey it is in the “best interests of both sides, for the UK and the EU, for there to be a trade agreement”.
  • The Bank of England estimates that the pandemic will cause severe damage over the long term, with total economic output about 1.75% lower than would otherwise have been the case by the end of 2023.
  • Although a no-deal Brexit would not cause as much damage as inflicted by the pandemic earlier this year, modelling by the London School of Economics estimates a reduction in GDP worth 8% over a decade compared with remaining in the EU.

Biden’s secretary of state pick compared Brexit to ‘a dog being run over by a car’ – Independent

  • The Independent are reporting that Joe Biden has picked Anthony Blinken to serve as his Secretary of State.
  • On Pod Save the World, Blinked called the decision to leave the EU a “total mess”.
  • This follows severe criticisms over the Internal Market Bill and its impact on the Good Friday Agreement, mounting greater challenges ahead for Boris Johnson if he wants to secure a trade deal and the ‘special relationship’ with the US.