Debate is good but it’s even better when it’s not binary + riddled with anti-🇬🇧 prejudice. If I took Tim Hayes seriously, I’d assume that 🇪🇺 never has ad hoc arrangements with non-member states. In the real world, 🇪🇺 and 🇨🇭have literally dozens of specific agreements, in the interests of both sides.

My reading is that the EU is not looking for another relationship based on an ad-hoc Swiss style patchwork of agreements. And, given the Brexit agreement already in place, there is nothing compelling the EU to allow such a mish-mash of agreements to happen.

But we’re not Switzerland which, when push comes to shove, has no illusions about whether it needs its relationship with the EU nations that landlock it more than vice versa. And the EU doesn’t want another Swiss-style patchwork, esp with such an awkward & unreliable/hostile neighbour as we are.