Mr. John Callinan:

I will repeat what I said earlier on that point. We have to be careful not to prejudge the outcome in a bad way at such an early point in the negotiations. That is important. The Government's clear stated preference is to have the closest possible trading relationship between the EU and the UK, which, in turn, minimises many of the problems and challenges we are talking about. We have to be careful not to take a position in some other area that gives the impression that we have already folded our tent on the issue. That is also important. It is not to say that we are not looking at all these issues but we have to be careful that we do not prejudge our negotiating position.