![](https://www.cer.eu/sites/default/files/styles/spotlight/public/hong_kong_sl.jpg?itok=UVqlAsb5)
London's Hong Kong dreams
"The idea that Britain could just leave and have complete regulatory autonomy is fanciful," said John Springford, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, a pro-European think-tank. "The reason for that should be obvious: London is the EU's principal wholesale financial centre. And there is no way the EU will allow for its financial centre to be outside the EU."