Press

Instead of pursuing what Sam Lowe from the Centre for European Reform calls “performative divergence”, the government accepts that this is a change that comes at significant cost and with little real benefit. 

Sam Lowe, trade expert at the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank, said that since the UK was unlikely to diverge from EU goods rules in practice in most areas, it made sense to continue to allow CE-marked goods to be sold in the UK, both now and far into the future.

El gabinete de estudios Centre for European Reform (CER) considera muy improbable que Afganistán se convierta en una fuente importante de migración, como ya ocurrió tras la invasión del país por la Unión Soviética (1979) o tras la primera llegada al poder de los talibanes (1996).

Some observers believe that the Single Market aspect, while genuine, is not the main reason for the Commission’s stance. In a recent blog, Zach Meyers and Camino Mortera-Martinez of the Centre for European Reform (CER) think tank argue that, “A more likely explanation for the Commission’s reticence to allow the UK to re-join the convention is that Britain remains a difficult partner for the EU on a range of issues, not least in honouring its own word.”

Sam Lowe, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform (CER), told us that “there is very little substantive threat to Welsh farmers as of now. Of course, circumstances in the future could change and we could see a big uptick in Australian exports of agri-food products to the UK.”

Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, said the French were “definitely annoyed with the Brits” and this had led to a reluctance to agree to the bridge-building exercise.“The British want a summit. The French say, ‘Great — so what should we talk about?’ The British say, ‘I don’t know — let’s have a summit.’ The French say, ‘No — we’ve got to have substance.’ ”

“These are 3,000 people who were flown from a country very far away and were just left on the border of the EU and that’s an entirely new phenomenon,” said Camino Mortera-Martinez, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform. “Flying people in is a complete other level of aggression and retaliation.”

"In cases that involve victims of corporate human rights abuses, business-versus-consumer cases, and family law -- in those cases, the party that has more financial resources may try to introduce arguments about which country should be hearing the case, and whether a UK court judgment can be enforced," says Zach Meyers, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.

"Biden has a specific interest in Northern Ireland and its stability, and does view the UK as the antagonist in that discussion," said Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.
"Ongoing disputes with the EU over Northern Ireland and threats to renege on commitments creates a problem with the US, but I'm not convinced it creates huge problems with any other countries," he added.