Irish-born City of London lord mayor Nicholas Lyons says there is ‘always another way to do things’ if good relations are not rebuiltThere was little sentimentality on show recently for the old sod from Irish-born, but British-educated, lord mayor of the City of London Nicholas Lyons who is effectively the elected top lobbyist for Britain’s international financial sector.
Lyons, who was born in Dublin but moved to England at the age of five, was in Ireland last month where he was publicly effusive about his desire for greater post-Brexit co-operation. Privately, he has been more muscular, however. He dropped a not-so-subtle hint about it last week in a meeting with international journalists.
The City and the British government want to strike an “equivalence” agreement with the European Union for each side to fully recognise the other’s regulations. It would help smooth certain difficulties faced by British financial firms since the UK voted to leave the EU. An agreement has not been forthcoming so far. Lyons last week appeared effectively to threaten that if an agreement could not be reached, the British side has ways of damaging Ireland’s financial services sector to focus minds. Government officials say they have heard similar suggestions from the British side in private.
I wonder which country can better influence the EU’s attitude to the City of London, the one with the EU veto or the one without it? And of course, Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt would be absolutely heartbroken if the City found it’s access to the EU even more seriously curtailed