OK, we are well into the new year, but I have had to re-write this blog twice in this fortnight: the first time when Theresa May announced last week that the UK will be leaving the single market, and now after the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Parliament must vote on Article 50. I will go out on a limb and venture that yesterday’s judgement doesn’t change anything – the House of Commons will back the government and, despite its anti-Brexit sentiments, the House of Lords will shy away from a constitutional crisis by blocking this. The one major “fly in the ointment” was if the Scottish parliament was given a veto but this hasn’t happened.
Last week’s rejection of the single market is significant however. It has removed one possible path for how Brexit may pan out, but unfortunately the path with the least disruption to trade. The UK government is still keen to have a free trade pact with Europe but whether they will get it is another...