EU partly to blame for UK’s hardline tactics, says former May aide

Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, said he was baffled as to why people in the government thought they were winning concessions through hardball tactics.

“I find that a really fascinating argument because I know that trade and cooperation agreement quite well, and the UK did not get much of what it wanted at all,” he said

He added: “Yes, it got rid of the references to the court of justice, but then in terms of the offensive interests of the UK: the UK wanted more expansive rules of origin, better provisions on mutual recognition of professional qualifications, a deeper relationship when it came to the mutual recognition of products; the UK didn’t get any of that.”