“Hallelujah! It’s a Merry Brexmas” cries the headline in the Daily Mail – whose front page like most others is dominated by the expected announcement this morning of a trade deal between the UK and EU.
It is accompanied by a photograph of Boris Johnson, smiling and giving a thumbs-up, with the Mail saying the prime minister is “on the brink of delivering the gift we’ve been waiting so long for”.
The Daily Express has an image of Mr Johnson making the “V for Victory” sign alongside the headline “The Deal Is Done!”, while the Sun depicts him as a grinning Father Christmas, holding aloft a sack made from a Union flag.
EPAAccording to the Daily Telegraph, Boris Johnson will claim the agreement as a “significant coup”, with Britain set to be the first non-EU country to be allowed tariff and quota-free access to the European single market.
The Times says it will be “presented as a victory for both sides” following French claims the government made “huge” concessions on fishing rights.
According to the Financial Times, EU access to British waters was “the last big sticking point” and the breakthrough was made when Mr Johnson and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, “took personal control of the negotiations”.
The Guardian says the two sides “battled deep into the night” to gain a last-minute advantage.
Reports differ on what the fishing settlement could involve.
The Daily Telegraph and the FT suggest a five-and-a-half year transition period has been agreed, far shorter than the 14 years said to have been originally demanded by the EU, but longer than the three years thought to have first been offered by the government.
But the Times says the transition period could be six or seven years, “with all quotas then subject to annual negotiations and further reductions”.
And the Daily Mail says Downing Street is expecting a backlash from Eurosceptic MPs over the issue, “where Mr Johnson is said to have given ground”.
The Daily Express is delighted by the apparent agreement – insisting Britain “is heading for a golden era”.
However, the Daily Mirror is not so sure – despite accepting that a no-deal Brexit “would be far worse”. It describes Boris Johnson as “still so dodgy” – and warns that the prime minister is hoping Christmas and Covid will divert public attention from the concessions he has made to Brussels.
Elsewhere, an analysis by the Guardian suggests hospitals in England will treat more Covid patients on Christmas Day than at any point in the pandemic.
PA MediaThe paper says Wednesday’s highest death toll since April and the discovery of a second new variant has led to “stark” warnings that the government is acting too slowly by waiting until Boxing Day to expand tier four areas in England.
But the Times warns that a long winter of lockdowns “risks damaging the economy to an alarming degree”. It says ministers “must think creatively” about immunity passports.
All of the papers feature photographs of the British model, Stella Tennant – described by the Daily Telegraph – as the “defining face of nineties fashion” who has died suddenly aged 50.
ReutersShe was a “rare survivor” in a fickle industry, says the Daily Mail, “striding down catwalks and smouldering from magazine covers for almost 30 years”.
The obituary in the Times remembers her as an “edgy if reluctant supermodel” who played down her aristocratic connections and inspired designers including Karl Lagerfeld with her “androgynous insouciance”.
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