Brussels Has A Change Of Heart Over Trade Deals

In what appears to be a major about turn it is being reported that Brussels has conceded and is now prepared to allow Britain to sign trade deals whilst the UK is still within the single market during the transition period, without recourse to Brussels for permission to do so. This represents a slight thaw in Michel Barnier's hard-line attitude towards the UK. The change in stance by Brussels may lead to further compromises enabling British businesses to forge sound deals in advance of Brexit.

As it stands at present UK businesses face an uncertain future, which, whilst it may not be all doom and gloom, without further clarity on how UK/EU trade can be conducted it leaves businesses facing a guessing game as far as strategising for the future is concerned. Teresa May and Boris Johnson breezily speak of "global Britain" with any further definition as to what is actually meant by this. There is a danger that randomly repeating slogans and phrases that appear to come straight from the pen of the PR advisor presents a danger that potential trading partners will perceive Britain as superficial with no substance or plan.

The speed that has been set for the UK's exit leaves little time for devising a measured well thought out strategy to be applied to each complex sector, particularly in light of the stop/start negotiations which appear to be full of arguments. In fact, observers could be forgiven for thinking that the EU negotiators are more focused on inflicting the maximum financial pain on Britain rather than finding a way to...