No EU trade deal is better than a bad deal? Don’t bet on it, Theresa May | Jonathan Portes

She talks blithely of 'taking back control'. But this Brexit prime minister is about to find out just how painful divorce always is after a 40-year marriage

It's not the beginning of the end (of Brexit) - but it's definitely the end of the beginning. Despite the fixation in the UK on the precise date and legal niceties of the article 50 process, the most important event of the weeks to come will not be the notification itself but the EU response to it, and the political and economic dynamics that sets into motion.

If things go according to plan, we're headed for the usual EU negotiating scenario: long interludes of tedium and small print interspersed with episodes of late-night brinkmanship ending eventually in a compromise no one likes, but which everyone will describe as a victory.

Possibilities would be disruption at borders, for both travellers and businesses, as we and the rest of the EU reintroduce long-abandoned controls

Related: A Mini part's incredible journey shows how Brexit will hit the UK car industry

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