Customs Union: The least bad Brexit compromise that nobody wants

Customs Union membership is “a half-way house”, says Sam Lowe, trade expert at the Centre for European Reform. “The idea (put about by ministers) is that being in the customs union would prevent Britain from having its own independent trade strategy, which isn’t exactly true. A customs union doesn’t cover a lot of areas,” says Lowe. He adds that it “isn’t an arrangement that is appealing to any other member-state”.

“But we would be able to regulate services as we liked, and we would be also able to negotiate trade agreements covering all areas that are not covered by the customs unions – services, investment, data, intellectual property, and potentially procurement.”