But that changed on Thursday when Boris Johnson released what is, in effect, his strategy blueprint for the trade deal negotiations. In the document, entitled "the Future Relationship with the EU: The UK's Approach to Negotiations", Johnson essentially asked the EU for a Canada-style trade deal. Specifically, Downing Street said it wanted "regulatory freedom" from the EU and would not accept any intrusion by the European Court of Justice in the dispute resolution mechanisms.

Downing Street said it hoped to achieve "the broad outline" of an agreement with the EU by June, which would leave the two sides "on track" to finalize a deal by September.

However, if the two sides don't make a sufficient amount of progress by June, then Johnson's government would "need to decide whether the UK's attention should move away from negotiations and focus solely on continuing domestic preparations to exit the transition period in an orderly fashion."