While frustrated Remain campaigners continue to speak of economic Armageddon, a very significant move happened yesterday. Business secretary Sajid Javid flew off to Delhi to begin preliminary negotiations for a trade deal between Britain and India. It is significant because this is exactly the sort of deal that we have been forbidden from doing for the past 43 years. As members of the EU we are forbidden from signing our own trade deals with third countries. Instead, we must rely on deals collectively negotiated with the EU.
Trouble is, the EU isn’t very good at negotiating them. It is painfully slow process because the competing demands of 28 different EU economies must be satisfied. What it means in practice is that freeing up markets in services – a strength of the UK economy – tends to take a back seat to freeing the market in Mercedes.
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