Another summit down, and now December beckons as the next final deadline. Should we be surprised? No. Should we be worried? Maybe, but maybe not. A deal can be done, but it is at the soft end of the Brexit spectrum, and it may be scuppered by the politics.

At last December’s summit agreement was reached in outline on the withdrawal terms – the money, citizens’ rights and the Ireland/UK border, including a fallback “backstop”.  The details were meant to be hammered out over the following 12 months and discussions started about the shape of the future relationship.