Frost acknowledges the UK would benefit from strong dispute settlement measures on state aid. 'I can quite see us being ready to use them just as much as the EU in future. Other EU countries subsidise quite often more than we do and that could definitely have impact on us.'

Frost says the 'remaining negotiation' on LPF/common standards 'is about whether that baseline could move in future'. Says the EU is being 'a bit overambitious' about how the deal may work and 'we're a bit skeptical about that because it’s not in the Political Declaration'.

Gove adds some people see the EU as 'Plato’s guardians - disinterested upholders of virtue and whatever they decree is right and other countries are potential rogues that need to be brought back online.' He says UK has a 'very favourable' record compared to EU on climate change.

Frost says there has been 'good progress in the last 2-3 weeks' on security cooperation and 'we’re moving forward reasonably well'. He says the EU had previously adopted the 'mentality of competition from the economic bits' in this area 'where it makes no sense'.

On security cooperation, Frost also sounds more upbeat on the stand-off over UK application of the ECHR. He says: 'We’re beginning to untangle the various threads that discussion tangled up earlier and I think I can see a way forward on that that satisfies all sides’ needs.'

Gove: 'The automotive sector, because of the tariffs that might apply, will in the event of failure to secure an FTA require additional focus on the part of Government to support. I don’t think we’re blind or blasé about that. We're absolutely focussed on securing an FTA.'

Michael Gove insists the Internal Market Bill was only introduced as 'a safety net, not because we sought to influence the negotiations through it'. He says 'it’s important to draw that distinction'. Ireland's foreign minister Simon Coveney called it a negotiating ploy earlier.

And with that a very interesting - dare I say even enjoyable - @LordsEUCom hearing is done. Nice range and depth of questions, and Frost and Gove were on good form. The main takeaway to me was that both of them are very much in deal mode re their respective negotiating strands.