Long read. It’s the autonomy, stupid – can the EU and UK agree the rules of a future relationship?

With the Article 50 withdrawal process complete, the European Union and the United Kingdom now have to start the more difficult task of defining their future relationship. Can the parties reach an agreement before the transition period ends in December 2020, asks Kenneth Armstrong (University of Cambridge)? Both the UK government and the European Commission will want to achieve maximum regulatory autonomy, and that is bound to cause friction, he predicts.