The No 10 comms unit has released photos of Boris Johnson in his office in Downing Street waiting for a response from the president of the European Commission amid speculation a Brexit deal was imminent on 23 December.

We’ve been through nearly five years of Brexit, the debates, the broken friendships, the family feuds, the political chaos, and the neglect of almost every issue that affects 66 million people, all in an attempt to please 17.4 million who wanted completely incompatible things from Norway to no deal, writes Femi Oluwole. 

Instead of funding the NHS and increasing its capacity, we bought portable toilets for the M20 in preparation for a no-deal Brexit that never happened. Which do you think would have been more helpful in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic?

The Scottish first minister has accused the government of “selling out” Scottish fishing with the Brexit deal.

Writing on Twitter, Nicola Sturgeon said: “The fact that many predicted it, doesn’t make it any less galling.

“The Tories have sold out Scottish fishing all over again.

“Promises they knew couldn’t be delivered, duly broken.”

The government has announced details of the post-Brexit replacement of the Erasmus exchange programme for UK students, costing more than £100m.

The Department for Education said the Turing scheme will provide funding for around 35,000 students to go on placements and exchanges globally from September.

The education secretary, Gavin Williamson, said: “We now have the chance to expand opportunities to study abroad and see more students from all backgrounds benefit from the experience.

“We have designed a truly international scheme which is focused on our priorities, delivers real value for money and forms an important part of our promise to level up the United Kingdom.”

Senior Conservative backbencher Sir Bill Cash said he is in “constant communication” with the team he is chairing, having received the full text of the treaty by courier from No 10 on Boxing Day.

He told the PA news agency: “We are in the process of analysing it.

“It has been delivered to members of the star chamber team and we are going through it.

“It got delivered by courier today from No 10.”

The veteran Eurosceptic said that the “issue of EU jurisdiction” is the key area that they will be examining in the 1,246-page document.

“Sovereignty is the key issue. The ECJ (European Court of Justice) is part of that,” Sir Bill added.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said it welcomes the Brexit trade deal with the European Union, which set out terms on security and information sharing.

An NCA spokesperson said: “This will allow us to retain access to the majority of EU law enforcement criminal justice tools that benefit law enforcement across Europe.

“We will work with our law enforcement and government partners to facilitate the transitions necessary.”

It was hardly surprising that Boris Johnson wrapped himself in the Union Flag as he began his campaign to sell the UK’s trade deal with the EU, writes Andrew Grice. 

Or that he replayed his greatest hit by recalling the Brexit referendum. “This deal expresses what the people of this country voted for in 2016,” he told a Downing Street press conference.

“I’m going to send a Hail Mary email to Matt Hancock, but I know what the answer is.” This was a message from one of my staff to our office WhatsApp group the day before our office closed for Christmas Day, writes Jess Phillips.

That morning he’d heard the desperate voice of a critical care nurse asking us if, as she was working on Christmas Day, there was any way she could postpone her Christmas Day and the visitors she had arranged to 27 December. The question had broken our hearts because we knew the answer.  

A senior member of the UK’s negotiating team has defended the fishing compromise set out in the post-Brexit trade deal with the EU after coming under criticism.

The unnamed official, quoted by the PA news agency, said: “Fisheries was one of the areas where we had to compromise somewhat. Both sides have had to. But the crucial thing on fisheries policy is that although there is a transition, at the end of the transition it returns to normal arrangements and we have full control over our waters.

“There’s a transition to that point and ideally we would’ve got out of it a bit faster but where we’ve got to is acceptable and offers gains for the fisheries industry in the short run and a huge right to control everything and work within that after this five-and-a-half-year transition.”

The UK government is “forcing” Scotland in the “wrong direction” with Brexit, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The Scottish first minister, speaking as the deal on the future relationship between the UK and the EU was published, complained that promises made to the country’s fishing sector had been “broken”.

She also insisted it was “extraordinary” that Boris Johnson had decided to “inflict a hard Brexit” on the UK in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and resulting recession.

Ms Sturgeon spoke out on the issue after the Scottish government warned the agreement reached by the prime minister could cost Scotland £9bn by 2030.

Analysis by the Scottish government indicated GDP could be reduced by about 6.1 per cent, compared to staying in the EU.

With Scotland having voted to stay in the EU in the 2016 referendum, Ms Sturgeon stressed that Brexit was happening “against the wishes of most people in Scotland” and said it would “hit jobs and living standards at the worst possible time”.