Bloomberg has a handy series of charts showing the strength of the UK’s negotiating position relative to the EU. On defence, among the EU states, only Britain and France have nuclear weapons. Britain’s defence spending outstrips all other EU nations by at least £20 billion. The EU will still rely on British expertise for defence and security after Brexit…

The UK has the joint second largest number of votes on the IMF board among EU countries.

Brussels will face a shortfall of almost 12 billion Euros in their budget when Britain leaves. Preparations for the next EU budget round will begin around the time the UK leaves, increasing the pressure on Brussels bean counters.

The City of London is home to the continent’s largest banks and trillions of Euros of their assets.

The UK is one of the richest European economies and its GDP per capita far outweighs the EU average.

Obviously, Britain was one of the EU’s most attractive destinations for internal migration. Remember, the negotiating hand is strong…