These are the big questions which remain around the EU-UK deal

UK negotiators have emerged from talks with their EU counterparts with a wider-ranging deal than looked to be on the cards. However, there are still questions that need to be answered, says Jill Rutter of the Institute for Government.

The Institute for Government is a British independent think tank which aims to improve government effectiveness through research and analysis. In a new analysis, Rutter notes that despite the positive developments around the deal, there is still much which needs to be fleshed out and decided upon.

“For all that the leaders hailed this as “turning a new page”, most of the book remains to be written. There is a lot of detailed negotiation to come, and the politicians will need to be prepared to come back time and again to unlock impasses between officials,” she said.

“And the detail may yet prove fraught – there is a mountain of fudge on what the youth mobility scheme might finally look like. Other avenues for exploration – for example, on creative artists or professional qualifications, both ask in Labour’s manifesto, may prove dead ends.”

Rutter notes that the government’s repeated reset mantra has been “ruthless pragmatism” – from the ideological approach that characterised the original negotiations to one that works for the UK.

“It now needs urgently to show that this approach does indeed deliver their three objectives on jobs, bills and borders. Then it’s bet that most people would rather not talk about Brexit but are open to undoing the hardest edges of Brexit when it offers real benefits should pay off.

“But if all this gets mired in a never-ending negotiation about incomprehensible minutiae and EU arcania, then the positive mood at the summit may rapidly sour,” she said.

This aligns with the view of other economists, who see the deal as a thawing of relations rather than a return to the status quo.

“It’s a sign that trade ties are warming up, even if some paperwork and rules still make things tricky, especially for smaller businesses. All in all, though, it’s a step in the right direction,” said Kamran Mahroof, (Associate Professor of Supply Chain Analytics at the University of Bradford).

“Still, the deal has limits. It doesn’t restore full single market access or the breadth of consumer protections that EU membership once guaranteed. And while fishing rights might seem distant to many urban consumers, the economic fallout in coastal communities could eventually be felt more widely,” he said.