Boris Johnson vows to focus on ‘levelling-up’ Britain and ‘spreading opportunity’ post-Brexit

Boris Johnson has promised to focus on ‘levelling up’ Britain in the wake of securing the country’s departure from the EU.

The Prime Minister said he wants to ‘spread opportunity’ as he hopes to take advantage of his new freedoms.

He claims the deal will help him ‘deliver for people who felt left behind’, despite some criticising the agreement he struck at the eleventh hour.

Boris Johnson has promised to focus on ‘levelling up’ Britain in the wake of securing the country’s departure from the EU

The Prime Minister said he wants to ‘spread opportunity’ as he hopes to take advantage of his new freedoms afforded by the deal he struck on Christmas Eve

Johnson told The Sunday Telegraph: ‘This government has a very clear agenda to use this moment to unite and level up and to spread opportunity across the government.’

MPs are due to vote on the deal in the Commons on Wednesday and Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed his party will support the Government in a bid to avoid a no deal scenario. 

The Labour leader said it was a ‘thin deal’ that would need more work to secure jobs and industries in the UK.

And Johnson even acknowledged that the deal ‘perhaps does not go as far as we would like’ on financial services. 

But he said Britain can now diverge from the EU and go its own way in areas such as animal welfare, data and chemicals.  

But Rishi Sunak congratulated the PM on securing the trade deal in what he hailed an ‘enormously unifying moment for our country’.

Rishi Sunak congratulated Johnson on securing the post-Brexit trade deal with the EU in what he hailed an ‘enormously unifying moment for our country’

Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed his party will support the Government in a bid to avoid a no deal scenario

The Chancellor, who was accused of being ‘absent’ in the run up to Christmas, said the agreement was a good deal for British families, businesses and jobs.

He also addressed concerns over the future of financial services, saying Brexit would offer ‘a chance to do things differently’ in the City of London after no agreement was reached for ‘equivalence’ on selling financial services into the single market.

Speaking from Richmond, Yorkshire, Mr Sunak said: ‘I think this deal represents one of the most comprehensive free trade agreements ever signed and it’s a good deal for British families, businesses and jobs.

Former Irish PM Leo Varadkar warned that the UK’s access to the European market is ‘not unconditional’ and they must continue to follow some EU rules. Rishi Sunak: Brexit deal is a ‘unifying moment’ for the UK

‘It gives us a fantastic platform to go forward, maintain tariff-free access to European markets but also capitalise on new opportunities.’ 

But former Irish PM Leo Varadkar warned that the UK’s access to the European market is ‘not unconditional’ and they must continue to follow some EU rules.

Responding to the Prime Minister’s announcement of a deal being reached with the EU, Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘It is not the deal that the Government promised – far from it.’ 

‘A better deal could have been negotiated. But I accept that option has now gone. At a moment of such national significance, it is just not credible for Labour to be on the sidelines.

‘That is why I can say today that when this deal comes before Parliament, Labour will accept it and vote for it.’