There has been a great deal of activity on the Brexit side of things since our last post (see here). In addition to the ongoing political activity, there have been developments on both the financial and energy regulation streams of activity. In addition, the European Commission published this statement giving their view on how to prepare for the “hard Brexit” scenario (ie no Withdrawal Agreement is signed) and one with the Withdrawal Agreement signed.

On the financial side,  the FCA has updated their “Brexit page” (see here) with news that the UK Government has published a draft Statutory Instrument that will form the basis of a temporary permissioning regime for EEA firms to provide services in the UK. More details from the FCA can be found here.  There have however, been vigorous discussion from both sides on market access, as reported here on The Guardian web site.

In the meantime, on the energy side, most voices continue to argue that there is a great benefit in the UK staying in the Internal Energy Market. This article on the Bloomberg web site explains the possibility consequences, in terms of inter connectors, of staying in or out of the IEM, and other arrangements. This is supported by comments from Lawrence Slade, CEO of Energy UK, in this article on the Compelo web site.