Just how much political capital can Johnson risk on an EU trade deal?

All the same, it’s hard to disagree with Sam Lowe, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, who in a recent blog argued that something must be better than nothing. A bare bones FTA may not make much difference in overall economic terms, but aggregates are often misleading and to certain industries, particularly auto and agricultural produce, tariff-free trade remains of the utmost importance. For some communities, it is a make-or-break matter.