George Galloway: More people voted for Brexit than the SNP

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The AMF said today that it expects Brexit Britain to forge its own path for financial rules in an effort to make the City of London more attractive to investors. While fishing attracted much attention before an 11th-hour deal was struck, the UK left the EU with no agreement in place over financial services.

This frustrated many in the City – who vocally argued that the amount of tax the sector generates should have made it top of the queue.

Mr Johnson saw differently and after months of largely being cut off from the EU, the UK is now ready to cut its own route in the sector.

AMF Secretary General Benoit de Juvigny said: “I see obviously an increasing divergence between the UK and EU27, but I think it’s quite normal.

“The UK intends to take advantage of its new autonomy and try to develop its own financial centre, its own financial market, and the EU is attached to its sovereignty and wants to develop its own financial services.”

There was much argument before and during the transition period about divergence – which focuses on how similar rules and laws are in the UK and EU respectively.

The EU was only willing to grant access if it deemed that the UK’s financial rules were sufficiently “equivalent” or aligned with those in the 27-nation bloc.

This would make divergence by either side much harder and effectively tie the UK to Brussels despite Brexit.

But with the UK having serious financial clout in the sector, Mr Johnson saw the advantages of going it alone and attracting investment with his much-vaunted “Global Britain”.

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The news emerged after the EU’s financial services chief Mairead McGuinness told a conference yesterday that equivalence would not be granted if there were a “wide divergence” in rules with the UK.

Emmanuel Macron’s government was later reported saying it would delay implementing any EU cooperation agreement with Britain in the area of financial services.

This was partly in response to the ongoing spat between French and UK fishermen.

The Royal Navy dispatched two gunboats to Jersey last week after around 50 French fishing boats blocked the island’s main port of St Helier in an argument over permits.

But the petty actions by Mr Macron and the EU could cost them dearly.

As well as generating money for the UK, London’s financial hub provides rich pickings for several EU countries – France and Germany included.

Their stubbornness to concede in this area will only see them lose out, according to experts.

John Garvey, global head of financial services at consulting firm PwC, said that although any agreement is unlikely to happen in the short term, there will come a point when the EU realises a deal is in its own interests.

He said: “There’s going to be a strange relationship developing over time where the Europeans realise they need London.

“So, I think there will be some kind of deal because the continent will need access to the London market.”

Mr Garvey said that while the EU is looking to create a larger financial market within the eurozone, it cannot decide where its financial capital should be.

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