What Brexit Did and Didn’t Change on Jan. 31

Britain’s protracted divorce from the European Union has finally happened. The country left the bloc on Jan. 31, marking the start of a battle over how the separation will work in practice. Virtually all facets of business and everyday life will remain unchanged during 2020 while the U.K. and EU hash out agreements on how they will handle a range of issues from trade to data sharing, fishing rights, and security co-operation. The new deadline for those is Dec. 31, 2020 -- ambitious given that such deals usually take years to hammer out.

Yes. Jan. 31 marked the U.K.’s legal, irrevocable separation from the bloc. It was a done deal after the game-changing U.K. election on Dec. 12, when Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party won a whopping 80-seat majority and a mandate to get it finished. Parliament then passed legislation that avoided a disorderly or “no-deal” Brexit, and allowed for an 11-month transition period for Britain to adjust to life on the outside. During that time, the U.K. will still trade freely with the EU and be subject to most of its laws, even though it will have no say in making them.