Christopher Muttukumaru CB, chair of FIDE’s International Academic Council, argues that the speed of the UK’s domestic implementation of the new EU/UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement has inevitably resulted in a lack of legal certainty. Scrutiny of the UK legislation by the UK Parliament was limited to less than a day and that was regrettable. He has summarised the key points of the legislation in the article [below]. The TCA itself was the subject of two articles for FIDE by Derrick Wyatt QC.

The UK’s engagement with Europe is driven as much by geography, values and necessity as by the inclinations of any particular government or the contents of any particular treaty relationship. The same goes for the EU’s engagement with the UK.

In the short term the expectation is of confusion and disruption on both sides of the Channel. The deal provides only a shadow of the economic benefits that continued EU membership would have offered.