EU officially retires its ‘no cherry-picking’ Brexit line

Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, said the cherry-picking line had been “a product of the strained relationship that followed the referendum, and the EU’s concern that other countries should not follow the UK’s example.”

“The truth is that where there is mutual interest in the two sides moving closer — as there is on [sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agri-food rules] and energy trading — the EU is happy for the British to pick a cherry.

“There will be other examples in the future of the UK de facto moving back into sectors of the single market, though it will have to accept dynamic alignment with EU rules in each of these areas.”