EU member states begin process to approve Brexit trade deal

Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at think-tank the Centre for European Reform warned that businesses could face a “rocky readjustment period” in the new year. “While businesses will most certainly welcome the deal, they will suffer from the lack of an additional grace, or implementation, period to allow them more time to prepare for the change,” he said. Mr Lowe added: “There is no legal reason why a further implementation period couldn’t have been included in the trade deal — be it a temporary partial extension of the status quo, or mutually agreed flexibility at the border”.