UK’s economic bond with EU likely to wobble

UK’s economic bond with EU likely to wobble

The Brexit trade deal – technically the Trade and Co-operation Agreement – was formally ratified by the European parliament on Wednesday morning. That means the final, lingering, danger of a "no deal" collapse, with tariffs shredding the operations of UK exporters to the EU, has now been extinguished. And yet the threats continue. The French European affairs minister Clement Beaune has this week been warning of "retaliation measures" against Britain if the UK doesn't speed up the issuance of licences for French boats to fish in UK waters. So what's going on? Didn't Beaune get the memo that the Brexit battle is over? Doesn't he realise that an era of diplomatic and economic harmony has dawned between Britain and the continent? If only that were true. The reality is that, even with this free-trade deal, Britain now faces an economic relationship with the EU that is likely to be fractious, uncomfortable and potentially unstable. The simple fact is that, outside the bloc, there is no EU law for the UK to cite that will protect our economic interests. We have no representatives to fight our corner in the Brussels bureaucratic machine. We have no voice in its political councils. We