Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Monday, January 4th. And this is your F.T. news briefing.

Businesses on both sides of the English Channel start the new year with a Brexit trade deal in place.

European countries are mulling more coronavirus restrictions and law firms are slashing office

space in the UK because of the pandemic's work from home culture.

Plus, the cryptocurrency Bitcoin has been on a tear lately and just hit a new milestone.

We'll take a closer look.

I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day.

2020, the year Brexit finally happened.

But even though the UK is fully separated from the European Union,

there's still much that needs to be done.

I'm joined by the F.T's political editor George Parker

to talk about it. Hey George.

Hello there. So George we spent the last few months wondering whether a deal

would even get done and now we have a deal done. How did Brexit go as the clock struck midnight on New Year's day?

Well it came and went with a bit of a whimper really to be honest. I mean the post-Brexit

transition period ended at 11 PM UK time, midnight Brussels time on New Year's

Eve and that was the point of which Britain left the customs union in a single market

that we've been members of since we joined the EU or its precursor back in 1973.

So it was a big moment really for the country.

The fact is that nobody really marked the moment at all. The Prime Minister was watching it from Number 10 Downey Street with his family.

There were no celebrations by the Brexiteers. There were no wakes as far as I could tell by

remainers. It was just the moment came when. So I think it was a sign ready of the country being exhausted by Brexit.

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