Commons briefing on post-Brexit relations between the UK and the EU

A research briefing from the House of Commons Library has summarised the government’s White Paper on future relations between the UK and the EU, published on 12 July 2018. The White Paper envisages a ‘common rulebook’ for ‘frictionless’ trade, plus UK co-operation in security matters, a commitment to maintain high environmental, data and consumer protection standards, UK participation in some EU agencies and solutions to the Irish border. The briefing looks at the proposals, along with those in former Brexit Secretary David Davis’s ‘alternative’ White Paper.

The White Paper is divided into four chapters, setting out:

• an economic partnership based on ‘bilateral autonomy’—this includes an independent trade policy, trade in goods, services and investment, the digital sector, future mobility, competi