After Brexit: The UK and EU risk a state of ‘permanent alert’

There is frustration in Brussels that the UK has so far been reluctant to engage more deeply on broader issues such as security and defence policy, but Charles Grant, director of the pro-EU think-tank Centre for European Reform, argues that mutual interests on issues such as the Middle East and climate change will ultimately bring the two sides together. “The big picture is that if “global Britain” is to succeed in forums like the G20, G7 and COP26 [climate conference], then we can’t do it if we have bad relations with the EU,” he says. “We’ll learn there’s a price to be paid for being in a grumpy relationship with our European partners.”