The Lex Newsletter: Brexit red-tape bonfire is more of a slow smoulder

The Lex Newsletter: Brexit red-tape bonfire is more of a slow smoulder

Dear reader,

There was a hint of parody about the Benefits of Brexit. The official document published here in London on Monday — the second anniversary of the UK leaving the EU — enthused about blue passports and crown stamps on pint glasses.

It was published on the same day as a heavily redacted report on lockdown parties in Downing Street. In both cases, critics said, it looked as though anything of significance had been removed.

That is harsh. But it is fair to say that the Brexit project is not delivering what some cheerleaders had hoped. In December, the government’s chief EU negotiator Lord David Frost resigned in frustration over the direction of travel.

Meanwhile, the drawbacks of Brexit are materialising as predicted. As of October, UK imports and exports of goods were 16 per cent below the expected trend if the UK had stayed in the EU, according to the pro-EU Centre for European Reform.

High time, then, for the government to take advantage of its newfound ability to forge its own rules. There should be scope to improve on the EU’s “one size fits all” approach that does not always accommodate national differences. Reforming agricultural subsidies, for example, will allow the UK to