We can expect greater divergence, whether we like it or not, and should focus on our diplomatic relationships outside the bloc.
Political leadership is needed in Belfast no less than in London – in some respects, even more so.
He is well-placed to knock on the doors of individual member states, as the Government and the Union lock horns over free movement.
The EU’s missteps over the last week have provided an excellent opportunity to seek changes to the Protocol that might provide for a more durable settlement.
If the Spartans hadn’t held out against the pleas of our colleagues then Britain would have been trapped in a customs union with no way out.
Or so it really seems – which is a personal coup for Johnson. Churchill walked with destiny. Today, the Prime Minister, in his serio-comic way, is winking at it.
The Political Declaration approves non-regression but not dynamic alignment – elements of which the EU has backed off from.
If no good deal comes and No Deal happens, the option of a return to EU membership is no longer on the table.
Here’s how can now use our freedoms as we leave – assuming there is no last-minute wish to be sensible by the EU and agree a free trade deal.
Closing the transition period at the end of the year will cause even greater problems than necessary.
It seems to gaze upon the SNP’s seemingly unstoppable rise and conclude that Sturgeon’s party is doing something right.
From the start, the trade bloc has not fully understood the Belfast Agreement and has been slow to see that it undermined many of its positions.
The CBI supports the Government’s timetable and Starmer is keeping his head down. It is quite the turnaround.
Specific governance arrangements can be established in individual areas, and an agreement should sit outside the overarching institutional framework.
Like it or not, the EU agreed to two customs territories on the island of Ireland – and a solution to the disagreement flows from that fact.