The UK government has recently published a series of position papers outlining its thinking on a range of potential issues resulting from the June 2016 Brexit vote. The papers cover matters such as dispute resolution, cross-border arrangements on the Irish island, the treatment of European Union citizens, and data protection.

The EU’s Brexit negotiating team and many of the other EU member states have reacted to the publication of these papers with some scepticism. Nonetheless, the papers provide insight into the opening negotiating positions that the UK may adopt when the substantive terms of the UK’s future relationship with the EU comes to be discussed. Such discussions are currently timetabled for October, but only if sufficient progress is deemed by the EU to have been made in the ongoing round of preliminary talks. Currently, there are indications that this October deadline will be missed.

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