Reply to post:

'how [can] the UK ... make progress without "aping" what happens on the Continent'

And therein lies the problem: we can't. We will always have to deal with the EU, and therefore we will always have to conform to their regulations. The main difference now, of course, is that we no longer have any say in those regulations. Yay Brexit.

^{(Cue up/downvoting in proportion to the political stance of the readership.)}