Why are Cameron and Cash still arguing about Europe?

During a near two-hour interrogation by the House of Commons European scrutiny committee, foreign secretary David Cameron suggested that the new European entry/exit system could mean long delays for British travellers when implemented, and that UK citizens landing at Gibraltar could be turned away by EU Frontex border guards under a deal to allow "a fluid border" between the territory and Spain.

- SEAN O'GRADY

It all begs some awkward questions about whether we will ever “get Brexit done” completely, and how the Conservative Party can ever escape the long and malign shadow it has cast.

What is the European Scrutiny Committee?

It was set up originally as the Commons select committee on European legislation in 1985, and was to undertake detailed examination of laws and regulations emanating from Brussels. It has since widened its remit.

Why do we still have such a committee?

It rather proves the point that the UK can never ignore its largest trading partner and that the Brexit agreements reached in 2020-21 left a number of seemingly insoluble problems. Hence the original arrangements in the Northern Ireland protocol of the UK-EU withdrawal agreement have had to be replaced by the Windsor Framework; numerous checks and controls remain in limbo; the status of Gibraltar’s border with the EU is unresolved; and a “technical” bilateral review of Brexit is due to begin next year.