Second, will he make good on his desire to “diverge” from EU rules and standards, thereby prioritising the government’s right to do things differently over preferential access to the single market? Senior ministers also believe that the very tight deadline will concentrate minds in Brussels. The second, arguably bigger, problem is that many at the top of government see diverging from EU rules as the big prize of Brexit. In the end, the government could be tempted to follow EU rules in sectors such as aerospace, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Despite hopes for a less fraught “phase II”, it seems likely that the UK’s noisy Brexit psychodrama isn’t going to quieten down any time soon.

Source: The Guardian January 07, 2020 06:01 UTC