At his press conference, Boris Johnson said the £668bn a year agreement would "protect jobs across this country" and "enable UK goods to be sold without tariffs, without quotas in the EU market".

He acknowledged he had been forced to give ground on his demands on fishing.

"The EU began with I think wanting a transition period of 14 years, we wanted three years, we've ended up at five years," he said.

And he said the UK had not got all it wanted on financial services, a vital part of the UK economy, but he insisted the deal was "nonetheless going to enable our dynamic City of London to get on and prosper as never before".

Most of the UK - except from Northern Ireland - will no longer participate in the Erasmus student exchange scheme, which Mr Johnson said was because it is "extremely expensive" - but a British option called the Turing Scheme will provide an alternative, he added.

Students in NI will still be able to take part thanks to an arrangement with the Irish government.

The UK's chief trade negotiator Lord Frost said the full text of the free trade agreement would be published soon.

The UK Parliament will be recalled on 30 December to vote on the deal - it will also need to be ratified by the European Parliament.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer - who campaigned against Brexit - said his party would vote for the deal in the Commons, ensuring it will pass.

He said it was "a thin agreement" that "does not provide adequate protections" for jobs, manufacturing, financial services or workplace rights and "is not the deal the government promised".

But with no time left to renegotiate, the only choice was between "this deal or no deal," he added.

No deal would have "terrible consequences for this country and the Labour Party cannot allow that to happen", said the Labour leader, and that was why he had decided to back it.

What happens next with Brexit?

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.

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."

Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin said he would study the text of the deal but added: "From what we have heard today, I believe that it represents a good compromise and a balanced outcome."

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage - who played a leading role in the campaign to get the UK out of the EU in the 2016 referendum - told the BBC the deal was "far from perfect" and that for fisheries in particular it was a "rotten deal" - but added: "It's a lot better off than we were five years ago."

One fishing industry representative said the UK had made "significant concessions on fish", and "there will be a lot of disappointed and frustrated fishermen tonight".

"There will certainly be those that see this as selling out ", said Barrie Deas, the head of the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations.

Negotiations in Brussels went down to the wire over what EU fishing boats are allowed to catch in UK waters. Fishing makes up just 0.12% of the UK's economy.

BBC