London looks to raise game for Brexit transition talks amid uncertainty

LONDON and Brussels have begun making final preparations for the imminent start of Brexit transition negotiations. Following December's first phase exit deal, hopes are growing in the UK government that Prime Minister Theresa May will finally get on the front foot vis-a-vis chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier's team.

Yet, this is unlikely after around six months of prior negotiations which saw continual UK defeats and back tracking. For instance, last December's deal saw a huge volte face on divorce costs with London ultimately folding to Brussels, as was always likely if the United Kingdom is to secure an ambitious post-Brexit trade deal.

While the text of the Brexit phase one agreement released last month includes no figures, UK commitments to meet all the financial requests of the EU indicates a divorce bill of around an estimated £40 billion (S$74 billion). This underlines just how wrongheaded it was to have argued, as numerous Brexiteers did in 2016 prior to the referendum, that the United Kingdom could leave the EU and secure a new trade deal virtually cost-free.