evidence: The bill for Johnson’s relentless focus on sovereignty is now due. The government’s deal does allow for the continuation of tariff-free trade for goods that qualify as British- or EU-made. However, Britain’s exit from the customs union and single market on January 1 created a thicket of customs declarations, health checks and other barriers to trade. Services, which make up 80 per cent of the British economy including its crown jewel — the City of London — barely get a look-in. [...] Johnson had delivered the pure form of Brexit he promised Leave voters. MPs approved the deal by 521 to 73, with most Labour MPs viewing a "thin" trade deal as better than none. Even the most Eurosceptic Tories were buoyant. "We finally have a deal which facilitates tariff-free, quota-free UK/EU trade to our mutual economic advantage," says Mark Francois, chair of the Tory Eurosceptic European Research Group. [...] The red tape and trade bureaucracy that Theresa May had tried to remove with her "bespoke" deal were, however, painfully evident: 215 million import and export forms to be filled in every year, costing business £7.5bn according to HM Revenue & Customs. Barriers were thrown up to trade not just between the UK and the EU but between the mainland and Northern Ireland.