Press

Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, told CNBC’s “Street Signs” on Monday that the “special relationship” between the UK and US is “quite fraught at the moment.” “President Trump isn’t particularly popular in the UK. Last week, there was a bit of a kerfuffle over the fact that someone is going to fly an air balloon with an effigy of Trump in a nappy and that’s been allowed in London. I don’t think he takes very well to personal insults, so he will notice it,” Lowe said. “So there’s problems there on the transatlantic side.”

Ian Bond, director of Foreign Policy and the Centre for European Reform, said: “Trump’s visit will be more of a minefield than manna from heaven for the Prime Minister. "He is hugely unpopular in the UK, and her invitation to him to pay a State Visit attracted a lot of criticism."

Sophia Besch, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, fears that the EU’s defence fund plan could turn into European protectionism if Britain is excluded. “EU strategic autonomy is not achievable without the UK,” she said.

Speaking to the House of Lords EU External Affairs sub-committee last week, Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, highlighted the risks for the UK of breaking away. He said every product of animal origin shipped to the EU from third countries has to enter via a special veterinary border inspection post. Upon leaving the EU, the number of avenues for British goods into Europe would be slashed, as not every entry point has such a facility.

Writing for the Observer, Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, who is in close touch with senior figures in Brussels, says: “The EU will reject Theresa May’s proposals. It views her complex customs proposals as unworkable and believes that the four freedoms of the single market are indivisible – movement of goods must go with labour, services and capital. If the UK could ‘cherrypick’ the single market, others might seek a similar status, thereby undermining the EU’s strength and cohesion.”

“The EU will not go along with this, but I’m interested to see if they string it out so as to get the withdrawal agreement over the line,” Sam Lowe of the Centre for European Reform, said.

Experts have already cast doubt on whether the EU will accept this proposal. The Times got its hands on an early draft of the plan and asked Centre for European Reform research fellow Sam Lowe to analyse it.