Quote Originally Posted by Greyblades View Post
And you think the EU aren't viewing it like that?

Even ignoring that mentality and treating this like a business negotiation you must be willing to acknowledge that the other guy is fully willing to profit at your expense if you let him and your primary leverage is the ability to walk away from the table and deny him any profit.

If you tie yourself to the table he has little reason to not exploit you to the fullest.
That mentality is not applicable to either side except possibly regarding the "divorce bill" which is really wrangling over what spending commitments the UK had already commited to. In any event, a hard Brexit isn't a threat, it's more like someone threatening to blow off their own foot with a shotgun while warning that it will wake up the baby in the next room.