Gove says Britain, EU to enjoy ‘special relationship’ with deal

Britain and the European Union will enjoy a “special relationship” as a result of the historic trade agreement that was reached on Thursday, according to U.K. Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove.

“We can now embark on a new, more hopeful, chapter in our history,” Gove said in an article published in the Times of London newspaper on Saturday. “We can develop a new pattern of friendly co-operation with the EU, a special relationship if you will, between sovereign equals.”

Negotiators finalized the accord to complete Britain’s separation from the bloc just a week before the country leaves the EU’s single market and customs union, ending more than four years of tortured divorce proceedings. The agreement will be put to a vote in the U.K. parliament on Dec. 30, and with the opposition Labour Party promising to back it, the accord is virtually certain to become law.

Even so, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged euroskeptics in his Conservative party to back the deal, the Telegraph newspaper reported. The agreement delivers on the manifesto commitments of control of money, borders laws and fish, the newspaper reported, citing a WhatsApp message from Johnson to Tory members of parliament.

There is still work to be done in helping prepare companies for the changes and the process has been difficult, Gove said.

“I’ve made more than my share of mistakes or misjudgments, seen old friendships crumble and those closest to me have to endure pressures they never anticipated,” he wrote.