BBC report: Post-Brexit agreement exceeds 'Canada-style' deal

The post-Brexit trade deal reached by the United Kingdom and the European Union goes beyond the EU's so-called "Canada-style" trade accord, the BBC has said, citing what it said was a full copy of the accord.

The 1,246-page document includes about 800 pages of annexes and footnotes, the BBC said, adding that the pages of legal text will determine every aspect of trade between the UK and the EU.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday had described the last-minute agreement as a "jumbo" free trade deal along the lines of that between the EU and Canada, and urged Britain to move on from the divisions caused by the 2016 Brexit referendum.

The British premier previously wanted to pursue a minimal trade deal – dubbed Canada-style, in reference to the EU's existing agreement with Ottawa – that envisages zero tariffs and quotas on goods.

READ MORE: UK and EU agreed to a post-Brexit trade deal. Here’s what it comprises

Tariff on electric cars

One annex revealed a late compromise on electric cars, the BBC reported. The EU had sought to offer tariff-free access only to those British cars made mostly with European parts. That will now be phased in over six years, but is less generous than the UK had requested, the BBC said.

There is a clear commitment not to lower standards on the environment, workers' rights and climate change from those that currently exist and mechanisms to enforce them, the BBC reported.

However, it added that there is also a mutual right to "rebalance" the agreement if there are "significant divergences" in the future capable of "impacting trade".

Similarly, the restrictions compensation for unfair subsidies to companies "do not apply" in situations such as natural disasters, the BBC said. That will exempt the EU's large current pandemic support package for aviation, aerospace, climate change and electric cars.

READ MORE: Pound jumps as EU and Britain seal post-Brexit trade deal

Economic disruption

Britain clinched a narrow Brexit trade deal with the European Union on Thursday, just seven days before it exits one of the world's biggest trading blocs.

The deal will preserve Britain's zero-tariff and zero-quota access to the bloc's single market of 450 million consumers, but will not prevent economic pain and disruption for the UK or for EU member states.

The UK formally left the EU on January 31 but has since been in a transition period under which rules on trade, travel and business remained unchanged until the end of this year.

The British parliament will debate and vote on the deal on December 30, just one day before the transition period lapses.

The speakers of both the lower and upper houses of parliament, the House of Commons and House of Lords, confirmed they would convene rare sessions during the Christmas-New Year break, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the agreement had been clinched by UK and EU negotiators.

The votes will take place less than 48 hours before the trade deal is due come into effect, and are virtually assured to go in the Conservative government's favour after Labour leader Kier Starmer gave his backing to Johnson.

READ MORE: UK supermarkets warned to stockpile food for no-deal Brexit

Others parts of UK

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, said in a statement that the deal "beggars belief".

"A deal is better than no deal," she said, adding that Scotland did not vote to leave the EU and "now has the right to choose its own future as an independent country".

Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster said her Democratic Unionist Party had "consistently urged both sides to achieve a deal", stressing the need to maintain border-free trade between the province and EU member Ireland.

Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford told the BBC that the deal would be "difficult" for Wales, but that it provided a "platform to which we can return to argue for improvements in the future".

On the EU side, member states are expected to give provisional approval to the Brexit deal before the European Parliament can weigh in next month.

READ MORE: Pound jumps as EU and Britain seal post-Brexit trade deal