New Year, new rules: UK begins post-Brexit future
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LONDON, Jan 2, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Britain on Friday began a new year and life outside the European Union’s single market, with the first trucks crossing the Channel by ferry and rail largely reporting few difficulties despite new customs rules.
Brexit, an all-consuming issue in Britain since it voted in 2016 to quit the bloc, became reality an hour before midnight after nearly five decades of integration with Europe.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson was bullishly optimistic, writing in the Daily Telegraph that Brexit presented “opportunities unknown to modern memory”, even as the country battles a new wave of coronavirus infections.