What the EU still doesn’t understand about Britain’s vaccine strategy

Since the outrage caused last Friday, when the European Union looked set to undermine the Northern Ireland protocol less than one month after the Brexit deal came into force, there has been little apology from those in charge. This is not terribly surprising: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has a reputation for passing the buck whenever possible. It’s also thought that last week’s mistakes are particularly hard for the EU to grapple with: desperate to prove Brexit was a mistake, it has been difficult for Brussels to watch Britain’s reputation for handling the Covid crisis change so quickly for the better.

Yesterday we got a hint of acknowledgement from von der Leyen that perhaps there are some benefits to being outside the EU. As Mr Steerpike reports, she admitted that operating outside of a large bloc of countries has its upsides, though ultimately still defended the EU approach:

‘I’m aware that a country might be a speedboat and the EU more a tanker.