Thread by @GeorgePeretzQC

Exactly. And the FTA sought by the U.K. isn’t just about tariffs/quotas. It includes eg fly-in rights for service providers (pretty critical - and a nightmare if not sorted); road transport; etc.

https://twitter.com/nickgutteridge/status/1324635814337351681

There is a lazy line among some political journos (not Nick) that the difference between no FTA and an FTA along the lines being discussed doesn’t matter much. It does matter.

And if there is no FTA those same journos will be writing stories about UK farmers/service providers/ordinary citizens taking very unwelcome and significant (and in many cases enormous) hits to their businesses and personal lives as a result.

To say that an FTA matters (point (1)) is entirely consistent with the equally important point (2) that the difference between even that FTA and being in the single market and customs union is also enormous and likely to cause major problems on 1/1/21, even if that FTA is agreed.

Both point (1) and point (2) can be - and are - true at the same time.

If the current govt blows up an FTA because of a misjudgment about the importance of subsidy control to the EU - or deliberately chooses to sacrifice an FTA on the altar of a dogmatic & unevidenced objection to a subsidy control regime - the responsibility will be its alone.