Brexit talks: expect more fudge

The government has reached phase two in the Brexit talks. But don't expect the language to get any clearer.

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May's "weak but stable" leadership is likely to last
(Image credit: 2017 Getty Images)

We have finally reached "Brexit, phase two", as James Rothwell puts it on The Daily Telegraph website. European leaders rewarded Theresa May's hard-won Irish border fudge by ruling last Friday that there has been "sufficient progress" for the two sides to start talking trade. The prime minister now has three months to get her cabinet to agree on what sort of trading relationship Britain wants with the EU after it leaves the bloc; trade talks will begin in March.

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.