So we're back to the basic conundrum of the UK position in the Future Relationship talks: what are they trying to achieve?
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The economics would seem to point to securing as much preservation of existing ties with the EU, but the politics pulls in the other direction (certainly for this government)
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HMG has always talked about wanting a deal, and as Barnier noted again today, it was the UK that made a lot back in June about accelerating and intensifying talks to help secure that
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BUT there's also little sign that UK is willing to engage with EU requirements on LPF as the quid pro quo for a zero-zero trade deal
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Remember we're now saying that end Oct is the deadline for getting a legal text together (a tall order in the very best of circumstances), so either UK needs to compromise on this, or break now so it can maximise time for no-deal in January
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If nothing else, further delay will just give more weight to EU to produce the detailed text that it'll ask the UK to sign up to, rather than being able to create more collaborative provisions that better suit it
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The only explanation I have for not moving is that government thinks that more time pressure will move the EU, a view that has no good basis in fact
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in sum: delay isn't helping the UK, whatever it wants
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