Post-Brexit trade: UK having its cake and eating it, says Boris Johnson
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Laura Kuenssberg challenges Boris Johnson on Brexit and vaccines
Boris Johnson has claimed his post-Brexit trade deal with the EU allows the UK to have its cake and eat it.
The prime minister refused to acknowledge it will mean new barriers to trade, in an interview BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg.
He conceded that there would be "changes" for business when the UK leaves EU trading rules on Thursday.
But he insisted the deal would allow the UK to "go our own way but also have free trade" with the EU.
Critics had said "you couldn't have free trade with the EU unless you conformed with the EU's laws", said the PM. and "that that was having your cake and eating it".
"That has turned out not to be true," he added. "I want you to see that this is a cakeist treaty."
It comes as MPs approved the legislation implementing the deal by 521 votes to 73 in a Commons vote. It now goes to the House of Lords and is expected to become law later on Wednesday.
Mr Johnson was repeatedly pushed to admit that businesses and citizens will face new hurdles when the UK leaves the EU single market and customs union at 2300 GMT on Thursday.
'Changes'
The trade deal, agreed with Brussels on Christmas Eve, avoids tariffs, or taxes, being imposed on imports from the EU.
But it does mean more paperwork for businesses and people travelling to EU countries, such as customs declarations, export health checks, regulatory checks, rules of origin checks and conformity assessments.
Asked to concede that there will be more red tape, the PM said: "There will be changes. And we've been very clear with people that they have to get ready for 1 January, things will work differently.
"But from the point of view of UK exporters, for instance, they'll now have the advantage, that they'll only have one set of forms they have to fill out for export to around the whole world.
"And at the moment, people have to choose that are they going to think about the EU markets or are they thinking about a global market? Now it's a totally global approach. And I think it's a wonderful thing."
He added that the UK can "not only exploit the advantages of zero tariffs, zero quota deal with the EU, do things differently, take back control of our money, our borders, and our laws, but also do free trade deals with other countries around the world".
Asked if he had ended the Conservative Party's agonies over Europe, Mr Johnson said: 'I'm very hopeful that that is the case."
New virus strain
On the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister said 60% of cases are now the new strain of the virus.
Asked if the government had been too slow to act to curb the spread of the virus, he said: "What we unfortunately were not able to budget for was this this new variant."
Getting "kids back to school" was "our national priority", he added, and while the new variant was "unquestionably making that even more difficult", the arrival of vaccines was "good news".
But he warned that people "should not, in any way think that this is over," as "the virus is really surging".
Asked about when life begin to get back to normal, he said: "There are plenty of reasons for people to be optimistic about the spring, but we must must focus on fighting the disease for now."