What was Britain trying to achieve in direct talks with EU nations?

The exercise seems to have been counterproductive, as Sean O’Grady explains

Britain sought information from each EU state, but Brussels had other ideas (PA/Getty)

European Union member states have been told to cooperate only minimally with British requests for information about how they propose to deal with the next wave of checks on goods moving to the UK.

New controls are due to be imposed in October, with further waves of new regulations on individual travel now due next year. Brussels is miffed at the UK’s initiative, as all matters involving trade, customs, and EU single market and customs union rules fall within the bailiwick of the European Commission.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, led by hardline Brexiteer Therese Coffey, sent a troublemaking message to EU member states on 2 June, asking each to fill out a questionnaire on their readiness to issue new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) certificates for food and agriculture products. After telling member states that it was “harmonising” communication with the UK, the commission shared its own list of more than 70 questions for London, so the exercise seems to have been counterproductive.