The following day, the trade minister, Chris Bryant, on a charm offensive in Paris, expressed his own frustration at the “piecemeal” approach he inherited when he was appointed in September. “Rather than this piecemeal, oh let’s do [a deal on] SPS, let’s do tuition fees, let’s do [the student exchange programme] Erasmus. In Brussels, Šefčovič said a Swiss-style overarching deal was still on the table in the long term. The advantage of an overarching deal was that it offered a “dynamic alignment approach” in regulation so deals could be “faster” and “earlier”, he said. There is mounting pressure on the prime minister, Keir Starmer, from his MPs to go even wider than defence and trade.

Source: The Guardian March 20, 2026 21:00 UTC