Theresa May shows why the EU matters

“If Mrs May had not been at the table yesterday, she would have been relying entirely on the leaders of France, Germany and others to make her points [about the Skripal case] for her,” says Ian Bond of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank.“That would have been a pretty tough thing to do. The French and Germans are obviously concerned about what the Russians are doing. But this isn’t their fight.”

The British say they want to retain a close relationship with the EU after Brexit. And there are plenty of ways that the UK could try to do this. Mr Bond sets out some ideas in this paper, noting the EU has arrangements for regularly consulting Norway and Canada on foreign policy matters.