Reading between the lines, Downing Street realising they boxed themselves in with EU deal timescales and the second covid wave (as they were warned and rejected) and that they now have to go for a deal. Little pretence here it is the EU softening.
However, we wait to see how the Brexit ultras will respond to the government going for an EU deal, presuming this time they won't fall for the idea it can be changed later. Are they going to try to make a fuss, knowing that one deal with the EU is likely to be followed by others?
Garvan is not confident (an all-weather tweet).
I interpreted the omission of state aid from the article as a tacit retreat from the UK side, rather than expecting EU retreat, but we shall see.
Scepticism from Brussels. I think a little overdone - don't overestimate the ability of Number 10 to think beyond next week, and therefore what was obvious to many earlier, that covid was going to mean Brexit problems in December, they are only discovering
*thinking also of those commentators on the right who said extending the transition period couldn't be the right thing to do "because the usual suspects are banging on about it" neglecting that this might be because that's literally our job to think of such matters*
Occurring to me on reading some comments about a potential UK-EU deal how one dimensional UK government efforts to prepare stakeholders have been. All about "show we're tough in public". Little about content, picking up previous issues, consultation.
Partly the outdated assumption that any UK parliament ought to simply wave through a major treaty. But also some sort of view that content doesn't matter much, even though it will be make or break for some businesses. A deal doesn't stop UK government being blamed for results.
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