As is quite common a certain someone speaking in black and white when the situation is anything but
With regards to EU and UK trade there is a strong view that we cannot negotiate trade until we have left. Obviously this has never been tested in law so the legal arguments could be complex but the view here is the same as I read was the view of the civil service in their briefing document on Brexit
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The EU Trade Commissioner has said no trade negotiations before we are completely out and some of the Council have said the same.
With others it is more ambiguous as they talk of negotiation after A50 invocation but this is not clear if they mean Brexit alone or Trade as well
There does seem to be a consensus that nothing will be discussed before A50 though - at least nothing that will have any material effect and so we exist in a 'phoney war' until then
The only benefit of a delay is for the UK to get itself ready for the negotiation but we have seen precious little indication that this is happening
My own personal, and perhaps wrong view, is that during Brexit negotiations we will be offered a simple Single Market yes/no offer (similar to Norway) and if we say no then negotiations will occur post exit as they will be complex and lengthy
I very much doubt the Government would or could say yes to that with the implications for Free Movement and the role of the City and passporting will also be quite detailed I guess
There seems to be an argument that the Commission is irrelevant here and it will all be negotiated through the Council of Ministers. I am very skeptical of the argument myself. The Council will decide but the Commission will be the ones doing the detailed work and will have lots of influence. The dismissal of the Commission as some do is not that helpful if this is the case