Brexit Briefing: Mrs May shows another card

As John Springford of the Centre for European Reform puts it: “The EU27 will not allow the UK to pick favoured sectors to stay in: they will say it’s all or nothing.”

Second, such an agreement will fall foul of the World Trade Organisation’s most-favoured nation rules. Mr Springford says: “If the EU and the UK make trade in cars tariff-free with each other, they must eliminate tariffs on cars for all countries. The only way around this is to sign a trade agreement that covers the majority of goods sectors.”