because it cannot set the rules, but that explanation would likely not be well received.

Eurosceptics called the divorce deal a a betrayal of Brexit and an embarrassment for the UK. Credit:Bloomberg In a sobering speech shortly after the divorce deal was announced, Tusk said he was satisfied with progress on the divorce deal but "the most difficult challenge is still ahead". "We all know that breaking up is hard, but breaking up and building a new relationship is much harder," Tusk said. "Since the Brexit referendum, a year and a half has passed. "So much time has been devoted to the easier part of the task. And now, to negotiate a transition arrangement and the framework for our future relationship, we have de facto less than a year."activate contingency plans to move operations and staff to the continent. Reaction to the divorce deal struck in the early hours of Friday morning was mixed, with hardcore eurosceptics calling it a betrayal of Brexit.

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage said the "very bad deal" was a humiliating capitulation, and the UK had met every one of the EU's demands. "We collapsed at every level," he said, saying it would be at least six years after the Brexit vote before the UK was able to make a trade deal with any other part of the world. "We look like mugs," he said. "We wasted months and months and in the end we agreed to all the things the Commission insisted upon." When asked for an example of where the