1/ The Government has now officially published it's White Paper on the future relationship with the EU. Haven't had a chance to read it fully yet (it is almost 100 pages), but a few quick pick ups. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…
2/ First up, on goods harmonisation. Britain will sign a treaty upfront guaranteeing to align with EU rules. But parliament will be responsible for passing those rules into British law. Sounds an awful lot like the Norwegian model often dubbed 'fax democracy'. 
3/ Speaking of Norway, this joint committee stuff is all starting to look pretty Scandinavian too, with a dash of Ukraine for good measure. Not sure Brexiteers will be very happy about this level of ECJ involvement.
4/ What happens if Parliament refuses to pass an EU regulation on goods into British law? Our whole trade agreement gets the chop, a la Suisse. Some choice!
5/ So how will the agreement be governed? 'Precedent suggests' an Association Agreement is the way forward. That wording has been chosen carefully and deliberately. Translation: Come on EU27, update your guidelines to propose an Association Agreement.
6/ We also found out more about the new Facilitated Customs Arrangement - the love child of a several month stand between the New Customs Partnership & Max Fac. It will be 'as if they were a combined customs territory'. Again, careful wording to avoid the phrase Customs Union.
7/ In essence, FCP takes the bits of the Customs Partnership the EU doesn't much like anyway (like UK collective its tariffs) and whacks in parts of Max Fac like Trusted Trader schemes. UK officials say this would mean just 4% of goods trade would be affected by Brexit.
8/ Moving on to free movement, where the document is fascinating. It suggests future UK-EU immigration system will be 'in line with the arrangements that the UK might want to offer to other close trading partners'. This will set 🚨🚨🚨 ringing in EU capitals.
9/ Free movement provisions in normal FTAs (the likes you'd expect UK to sign around the world) aren't great and mostly cover qualified professionals and students. So this suggests either UK is going to offer other countries very generous terms or crack down on EU migration.
10/ This matters, because securing preferential immigration treatment for EU citizens is a big deal for the 27 countries economically, politically and ideologically. For their part, UK officials insist what kind of system will be put in place is still up for negotiation.
11/ Indeed, further down the document specifically mentions professionals providing services and students. That's very FTA territory.
12/ Quick note on Level Playing Field. UK really going to hammer that what EU is demanding on state aid, competition etc is way beyond anything in any existing FTA and market access should reflect that. Also happily signs up to non-regression - the so-called 'punishment clause'.
13/ Finally, security. Mostly what we've heard before. But on asylum & illegal immigration it's quite interesting. UK offering to help police EU's external border. The security offer may officially be 'unconditional', but unofficially this looks a lot like we scratch your back...
14/ Anyway, they're just a few very rough thoughts on a paper I've speed read the morning after drowning my World Cup sorrows in 8% Belgian beer. I'm sure others can come up with something much more coherent and insightful!
15/ One final observation on this White Paper - it is significantly more detailed and less ambiguous than any previous UK publication on Brexit. In that sense, although some of the content will inevitably be panned as part of negotiating, it is what the EU has been asking for.
