The UK and EU are not so much stumbling over each other in the Brexit talks as fidgeting on opposite sides of the floor. They will meet this week for a summit, where it will formally be declared that insufficient progress has been made to allow Brexit talks to proceed from the terms of divorce to the question of a future trading partnership. The Tories deserve the lion’s share of blame for being unable to express a consistent account of what they want from Brexit. Philip Hammond does not want to set aside money to pay for a disorderly rupture (yet). It is well within the capacity of European leaders, including Mrs May, to choreograph the steps.

Source: The Guardian October 15, 2017 17:26 UTC