The City of London Needs Equivalence — With New York

The eminent economist Bob Solow once said his profession “requires three qualities: faith, hope and clarity; and the greatest of these is clarity.” For the past four years the British view of its future trading relationship with the European Union has reflected much more of the first two virtues than the latter. Thankfully, we’re now seeing signs of lucidity. A speech last month by the U.K. trade negotiator, David Frost, was admirably clear on the subject.

Reasonable people can disagree about whether remaining in or leaving the EU is a good thing. But, as Frost said, there’s little point in giving up the advantages of membership without getting the benefits of leaving. The previous U.K. government, under Theresa May, started by arguing that a no-deal Brexit was better than a bad deal and ended up by arguing that a bad deal was better than no deal. She was prepared to sacrifice the good things about being an EU member without reaping the dividends of separating.