Sadly, a lot of political UK is still there. They want to be out, but they want the advantages of being in, and claim victimhood when the EU responds that those goodies are for members only. Like Schrödinger’s Brexit, they try to present the EU as somehow being unreasonable that it won’t do them favours. It is of course possible to have the advantages, but they come with commitments that the members should play by the rules of the club, and usually some degree of cost for non-members, ask Norway. Terrified, still, of Reform accusations of betrayal, the UK does not have the political maturity to accept these trade offs.

That is not to say there aren’t things happening, and however painfully and slowly we inch back to the EU I’ll welcome the efforts. We saw this week the UK government announce an intention to “dynamically align” with the EU rules on a raft of things as a prelude to the long awaited sanitary and phytosanitary agreement (SPS) on import export checks on animal and plant products, also known as food.

It staggers me still that the UK essentially has no effective checks on imports of foodstuffs and that so few people have noticed or cared given that “control our borders” was such an emotive cry in the Brexit vote. But absent a comprehensive set of rules and standards, and hoping that the EU imports will still be safe, the UK has limped on with a remarkably lax regime.

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Progress is being made on an SPS Agreement, and I welcome that, but I think there will be pushback when the penny drops that the UK will follow, lock stock and barrel, any EU rules on this stuff and any future rules the EU may pass in the future. The UK, obviously, will not be part of the formulation of those rules and for anyone who thought there was a democratic deficit within the EU, here’s an actual one.

Likewise, the UK and EU Commission are in deep talks about the ramifications of the Commission’s “Buy European” plans, particularly in relation to electric cars. There was, in 2023, a deal to postpone the entry into force of rules of origin which would hit with 10% tariffs any cars that are not 55% of a car’s value and 70% of the battery made in the UK.

This deal ends on January 1, 2027 and if implemented, will be a hefty surcharge on electric cars, given much of the UK-finished cars are largely put together in China. This alongside other discussions like the implementation of the EU CBam – the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism designed to encourage domestic EU production and discourage carbon heavy imports – are causing many a headache for heavy industries as they could be hit from all sides.

Various UK ministers are spending a lot of time trying to find workarounds and temporary exemptions and there may well be some exemptions to be found, but they are all guddling around the fringes of the core issue: Out means Out.

The EU has no incentive to do the UK, or anyone else, favours. They’re simply not going to; why would they give advantages to anyone not willing to join the actual club? So there’s an answer that presents itself if the UK Government could find some courage. The EU Single Market is the set of rules EU members, plus Iceland and Norway, work within to regulate trade among each other. This is where most of the rules come from and the rules, to my mind, that the UK should simply get real and join.

(Image: Getty)

Yes, there will be the democratic deficit that Iceland and Norway have to put up with, but there’s ways in which the UK could be part of the formulation of those rules, there’s already provisions in the Trade and Co-operation Agreement which would allow some democratic oversight. Obviously, I’ll advocate full EU membership, and Scotland could steal a real march on the UK by joining, but the UK being part of the Single Market but not the EU will actually make the independence process easier because the Border at Carlisle will be so much smoother, as well as a boost to trade which the UK could really do with.

Because the alternative is what we’re seeing now – a never-ending series of gaps, cliff edges and and crises as the

UK tries to work out what it wants. Scotland has a clear view – 73% of Scots want back in the EU, Single Market and Customs Union, that’s our task. But even in England, things are moving. There’s an argument to be won if Mr Starmer cared to make it, one that would put real distance between him and Reform UK. Sadly, I doubt he will.