UK citizens who renewed their burgundy-coloured passports recently and found the words “European Union” had been removed from the cover may be taken aback further when they travel to the continent after January 1 and discover they can no longer breeze through the lanes reserved for EU citizens, or travel to Europe using only basic identity documents — they will need to carry their redacted passports. And they will lose the right to live, work and play permit-free across the English Channel, unless they have already been doing so for five years.

In other words, Brits will shortly find themselves enjoying no more privileges in European countries than a backpacking Canadian university student. These are the known costs of their country’s decision to leave the EU, and now, with the transition period leading up to the actual moment of Brexit set to expire on December 31, Britons face getting nothing in return...

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