UK Brexit envoy Lord Frost wrangled with the EU’s top officials until after midnight Thursday in Brussels to clinch the agreement. The battle over fisheries continued all morning after EU officials used the wrong figures to calculate the compromise.
The deal was finally clinched after one final phone call between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Commission Ursula von der Leyen. A celebratory picture of Johnson was posted on social media minutes after the call ended. The actual text of the agreement has yet to be released.
"We have taken back control of our laws and our destiny," the prime minister said, speaking from No. 10. "We have taken back control of every jot and tittle of our regulation in a way that is complete and unfettered. From January 1 we are outside the customs union and outside the single market. British laws will be made solely by the British Parliament interpreted by British judges sitting in UK courts and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice will come to an end."
Commenting on the agreement, Lord Frost said it would let the UK "thrive and succeed" outside of the EU.
"I'm very pleased and proud to have led a great UK team to secure today's excellent deal with the EU," he said. "Both sides worked tirelessly day after day in challenging conditions to get the biggest and broadest trade deal in the world, in record time."
In one private meeting, Mr Frost's EU counterpart Michel Barnier said: “The agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union could serve as a model for future free-trade agreements, so that all of them would follow this model. It will serve as the model for a new generation of free-trade agreement.”
Speaking at a news conference, Mrs von der Leyen said: "It was a long and winding road but we have got a deal to show for it. It is a balanced deal and it is the right and responsible thing to do for both sides."
She added: "A lot was at stake for so many people so this was an agreement that we absolutely had to fight for."
UK Parliament, which has broken up for Christmas, will be reconvened on 30 December to let MPs and peers ratify the agreement.
Opposition Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer announced he will back the deal, meaning it is almost guaranteed to pass, but argued it is a "thin agreement" and not what the government promised as it does not provide enough protections for manufacturing, workers' rights or financial services.
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "Brexit is happening against Scotland's will - and there is no deal that will ever make up for what Brexit takes away from us.
"It's time to chart our own future as an independent, European nation."
Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford said a deal was better than no deal but criticised the timing just a week before the UK exits the EU single market and customs union.
Nigel Farage, the former Brexit Party and UKIP leader, said the "the war is over." he said the deal is "not perfect" and he's "worried we're going to be too closely aligned to EU rules" because the UK "will not be able to step out of lines without them having the threat of imposing immediate tariffs."
"That detail, we'll discover in the next couple of days," he said, but added: "Are we far better off than we were five years ago? Absolutely."
The UK is set to exit EU trading rules next Thursday - a year after officially leaving the 27 nation bloc.
It will mean big changes for business, with the UK and EU forming two separate markets, and the end of free movement.