‘Dawn of a new era’ as Brexit gets done

The PM marked the historic occasion with a speech promising to bring the country together and “take us forward”.

“This is the moment when the dawn breaks and the curtain goes up on a new act,” said Mr Johnson (pictured right).

“It is a moment of real national renewal and change.”

Three-and-a-half years, two general elections and three Prime Ministers after 52% of voters backed Brexit, the UK became the first nation to opt out of EU membership at exactly 11pm last night.

Newly minted 50p coins went into circulation to mark the occasion, while there were ‘Brexit Day’ parties and protests in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In London, Brexit supporters gathered in Parliament Square to celebrate as a clock counted down to the precise moment the UK left the EU in a projection on Downing Street.

In Belfast, a pro-Brexit rally was held at Stormont Castle while similar demonstrations took place in Glasgow and Cardiff.

But there were also protests last night as remainers voiced their opposition to the move.

Demonstrations against Brexit were held in six villages along the Irish border, while candlelit vigils in support of EU membership took place throughout Scotland.

The reaction of Northern Ireland’s political parties has been mixed.

The DUP’s Sammy Wilson compared the EU exit to a prison break but warned against Northern Ireland being “released only under licence.”

The UUP leader Steve Aiken, meanwhile, said the focus should now move to “curbing the worst excesses” of the Brexit deal agreed by Boris Johnson.

The SDLP leader Colum Eastwood described Brexit as an “act of constitutional violence”, while Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said there was “justifiable anger” about what she described as the loss of “practical benefits and entitlements”.

While the UK’s flags have now been taken down in Brussels and the country’s membership of the EU has officially ended, in the immediate future there is likely to be little change.

Today marks the first day in an 11-month ‘transition period’ whereby most EU rules and regulations will continue to apply.

The UK government has until the end of 2020, when the transition period ends, to arrange a new trade agreement with the EU.

“This is the dawn of a new era in which we no longer accept that your life chances – your family’s life chances – should depend on which part of the country you grow up in,” Mr Johnson said last night.

“This is the moment when we begin to unite and level up.”

DUP MP Sammy Wilson, looking ahead to the negotiations, said: “It is especially important for Northern Ireland that the concessions given to the EU in the Withdrawal Agreement do not leave us in the EU prison yard or acting as a part of the United Kingdom released only under licence.

“It is already apparent from what EU negotiators are saying that they will be aiming to keep Britain on a very short leash and if the Prime Minister and the government do not robustly oppose the EU in these future negotiations then Brexit will not be done.”

UUP leader Steve Aiken shared similar concerns about Northern Ireland’s future

“An economic and regulatory border in the Irish Sea is nothing to celebrate for Unionists in Northern Ireland no matter what side of the EU referendum debate you were on,” he said.

“Even the most ardent of Brexiteers in Northern Ireland have real and genuine concerns about the future because of Boris Johnson’s woeful Brexit deal.

“Unionism can’t afford any more strategic mistakes. Northern Ireland and the Union itself have already sustained enough collateral damage in the pursuit of an ideologically pure Brexit.”

Mr Aiken added: “We need to focus on how we go about curbing the worst excesses of Boris Johnson’s Withdrawal Agreement to protect our trading links with our biggest market in Great Britain, grow our economy in the future and strengthen the Union.”

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, in an address to the Institute of International and European Affairs yesterday, said: “Last week the five main parties in the northern Assembly refused to give consent to the British government to legislate on its behalf in relation to Brexit.

“Neither the people, nor their political representatives, have consented to the North leaving the EU today.

“People who consider themselves to be Irish, British, both or neither, will lose practical benefits and entitlements.”

The Sinn Fein president added: “There is a justifiable anger about this.”

The SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said: “Brexit is an act of constitutional violence inflicted on the people of Northern Ireland and Scotland by an English electorate.

“The fight to defend the interests of people in the North is not over. The first phase of Brexit will finish at 11pm tonight but the battle to secure trading arrangements which provide businesses here with ambidextrous market access begins in earnest. We should not be forced to pay the price for a decision taken in English suburbs.”

The business group Retail NI stressed the importance of a free trade agreement with the EU.

Chief Executive Glyn Roberts said: “It is absolutely vital that the UK secures a free trade agreement with the EU over the next eleven months- a massive challenge given that the average time to conclude a trade deal is four years.”

Church leaders have stressed the importance of unity and kindness in the months ahead.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the UK “must be united in a common vision for our country, however great our differences on achieving it”.

The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin, stressed the importance of peace building and reconciliation in the future.

“It will be extremely important that the free movement of people and goods across the border will be maintained and that the process of peace building, reconciliation and understanding on this island is not threatened in any way,” he said.

“Border communities need to be consulted on the financial, technical and social supports they will need to offset any negative repercussions from ‘Brexit’.”

And the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Rt Rev Dr William Henry, said: “While much of the national discussion has concentrated on economic factors, the impact on people and relationships in particular is perhaps more important.”