I'm also getting a little sick of the Guardian and the BBC putting their
slant on stuff.
That whole article in the BBC is about how the UK would be BAD and WRONG if it attempted to talk to states independently of the EU negotiations.
Yeah, right. The rEU27 are not _allowed_ to strike deals with the UK. However the UK is perfectly allowed to strike deals with them if they wish to break the EU rules.
Also another point the article should point out but doesn't. It won't just be the Commission who signs the agreement. It will be the Parliament AND the entire Council of Ministers. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the UK going to these countries who have to vote on our deal and saying "you know this is going to be really difficult and if those noddies in Brussels are going to play hard ball, so are we, you'll be standing in the middle and you'll get hurt too".
Another point the Article fails to make is the blathers about how the UK "can't expect a better deal outside the EU". Really? I'd suggest that we can strike a deal for the access we want (restricted), then a deal with the US, Australia and China for access to their markets which would probably be better than the deal the EU has. The net effect being that the UK has a "better deal" outside the EU than in it.
All of these things could and should have been reported by a fair and unbiased media.
The fact that the BBC and the Guardian report none of them, until high profile international businessmen and women make statements to the media which are hard to challenge, just goes to show exactly how badly our own media are doing us down in order to play on their hobby horse.