What does the breakdown of trade talks with Canada mean for the UK’s post-Brexit future?

As the latest round of negotiations hits the buffers, Sean O’Grady checks the progress of Project ‘Global Britain’ – and finds that instead of sunlit uplands, it’s looking more like hard cheese

The more baleful consequences of Brexit will make themselves evident during this election year, no doubt to the Conservatives’ great embarrassment (AP)

The collapse of the Canada-UK trade talks is a further, if minor, setback to a government that promised to capitalise on “Brexit freedoms” and negotiate new and better economic relationships after the UK left the European Union. It’s an unwelcome reminder that despite the bullish talk about buccaneering “Global Britain” going out and conquering new markets, this scenario hasn’t quite materialised, and that Brexit generally hasn’t lived up to its promise – either because it was a bad idea in the first place or because it wasn’t done properly, depending on who you ask.

Mercifully, in many ways, Brexit won’t be an issue at this year’s national election – making it the first time it hasn’t been a big part of campaigning since 2014 (when Ukip won the European parliament elections). But Brexit will lurk behind many of the policy debates, and its more baleful consequences will make themselves evident during this election year, no doubt to the Conservatives’ great embarrassment. As the party that was elected to “Get Brexit Done”, such failures don’t reflect well on them... and there will be some high-profile examples of Brexit drawbacks on display through 2024.

How bad are things with the trade deals?