Theresa May is rubbing salt into the wounds of the Tory Brexit bunch

The flurry of overnight speculation that a deal had been done to guarantee post-Brexit access for the City to the EU was all a bit odd. It’s true that a few weeks ago, the Treasury over the course of a couple of days successfully negotiated some “high level principles” for what the future access relationship might be for UK-based banks and other financial institutions to the EU’s single market. But this is a million miles from a deal – which would not and could not be negotiated in its practical detail for months and even possibly years.

What was broadly agreed – and as I say by the Treasury, not DEXEU – was a possible framework to be included in the Political Declaration that would accompany the Withdrawal Agreement, on the assumption that the problem of keeping open Northern Ireland’s border can be overcome and there is any kind of formal Brexit deal at all.