Maintaining the spirit of co-operation: Brexit is done but the City and EU must still work together

Working on common goals must now take priority

Four-and-a-half years after the Brexit referendum, which saw only a slim majority of the British people opting to leave the EU, the two sides have finally found an agreement that will govern their future relationship.

Despite being hundreds of pages in volume, the agreement is rather light on substance. This reflects a fundamental tension that has never quite been resolved since the referendum. On the one hand, you had those in Britain who for economic reasons advocated maintaining as close a future relationship as possible with the EU and its large single market. The cost of this outcome being continued regulatory alignment. On the other hand, you had those for whom a decoupling was the only means to ensure Britain could take back control of its regulatory sovereignty, which was they argued, the v...