Originally Posted by OLD BOY

You cannot surely compare the over-bureaucratic, over-codified rules of the EU with the straight forward rules of WTO! That's what is perverse.

My position is that we should accept Theresa May's 'common rulebook' idea for trading with the EU, but not for trading with the rest of the world. That's in the same way that we might agree on different 'common rulebooks' for each country that we deal with. Enforcement of such rules in relation to EU trade should be similar to the way rules are enforced for trade deals with other countries.

All trade deals have agreed positions on specifications, tariffs, safety, etc, and that's what I mean by a 'common rulebook'.