Press

Sam Lowe, a trade expert at the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank, said the UK’s new commitment to try and get a fully-fledged FTA with Japan made sense. “Until now the UK has been talking up the need to secure FTAs with Australia and New Zealand but Japan is a much bigger economy and matters a lot more,” he said.“Politically, it’s also important for the UK to show Japan that it’s a top priority in trade relations. The Japanese are furious over Brexit and see it as a betrayal of trust after decades of Japanese investment in the UK economy.”

Given that she was appointed with the support of conservative governments in central and Eastern Europe, Mrs. von der Leyen made a conscious decision to alienate left-wing rather than right-wing politicians, said Camino Mortera-Martinez, a senior research fellow with the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think tank.“She’s much less a compromise figure than people thought,” Ms. Mortera-Martinez said.

Sam Lowe of the Centre for European Reform believes there is time to get a deal agreed by the October 17 summit. “The EU has already proposed the kind of relationship that Mr Johnson is aiming for. It is the initial proposal they put forward for a Northern Ireland-only backstop. If there is to be a deal, that’s what would have to be on the table,” he says.

Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, nevertheless believes Johnson could benefit from a change of mood in Paris and Berlin following positive visits to both cities last month. But he warns this could take time to permeate through to Barnier’s team in Brussels. “There seems to be some difference of emphasis between the national capitals, which are more optimistic and believe Boris may well be serious about getting a deal, and the officials based in Brussels, who have experienced Frost’s hard red lines and uncompromising stance and are more sceptical that a deal is feasible,” Grant said.

Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, said that a deal by October 31 was now “more likely than I had thought”.

A 22-mile bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland would not be impossible – the longest bridge in the world, the Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge in China, is over 102 miles long.But trade expert and senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform think tank Sam Lowe told City A.M. it was unlikely to solve any Brexit-related issues.“It remains unclear why putting a customs border in the middle of a bridge running over the Irish Sea is more palatable to the DUP than a customs border in it,” he said.

Sam Lowe, a trade expert with the Centre for European Reform think tank, warned that moving customs checks was not a magic solution. "You have to police businesses that don’t play by the rules. That’s still quite disruptive and risks to undermine the peace process and disrupt the all-Ireland economy," he said.