1. Does the new trade deal deliver for the UK and the EU automotive sectors? I and other colleagues have been working tirelessly over Christmas to answer this question – thanks @mattogg @Mulk_Lloyd!!. Here are my thoughts - warning, very long 🧵ahead!

2. First, a necessary clarification. Comparing the UK-EU FTA with the status quo is simply futile. Even the most ambitious FTA cannot – and it is not intended to – deliver the benefits of the EU Single Market and Customs Union.

3. There is only so much an FTA can deliver. No FTA could avoid creating a customs border. No FTA could waive origin rules. No FTA could avoid new non-tariff barriers. It is no mystery that UK Automotive would have preferred other options precisely because an FTA has limits.

4. To compare apples with apples, a fairer question is not whether the FTA is better than the Single Market - it isn’t - but whether this is the most ambitious FTA we could get for the sector. And I hope the rest of the thread can shed some lights on this point.

5. Having a deal is, in itself, a major positive. The idea that having an FTA or not having one makes little difference could be true for some sectors. This is certainly not the case for Automotive. Without an FTA, tariffs would certainly apply.