EC 'alignment' or social reform?

The Graun can always be relied upon to leak stuff that helps EC negotiators and today it is this:

Brexit: EU may veto UK trade deal lacking safeguards, leaked report reveals

the text states that a level playing field is the “necessary condition for the European parliament to give its consent to a trade agreement with the UK”. ...The level playing field – common standards on environment, workers’ rights and state subsidies for companies – is one of the main stumbling blocks of Brexit talks that has contributed to the current deadlock.

 Normally, all this leads to worries about chlorinated chicken but there is a new emphasis:

[There might be ] little slack to escape the EU’s opening position of matching EU rules on state aid – so-called “dynamic alignment”...Brussels sources have played down talk of imminent compromise on the crucial issue of state aid. ...EU officials want to see a common approach on state aid that means the UK and EU would move together in adapting rules in response to the economic outlook... "....it is also worrying that we have no idea what the UK state aid control system will look like as of 1 January 2020.” State aid was one of the most difficult issues

“We cannot accept any alignment with EU rules, the appearance of EU law concepts, or commitments around internal monitoring and enforcement that are inappropriate for [a free trade agreement],” Frost has said.

This has got to be one of the most ironic issues in the whole charade. The Graun ppretends that it is the EU that will lead the process of using state aid to revive the economy:

In recent weeks, many EU restrictions on company bailouts and subsidies have been lifted in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Brussels wants to ensure similar coordination between EU and UK state aid rules in future. 

But the issue might really turn on the UK Government wanting to exceed EC rules here, if the UK is to 'level up' as well as modernise and adjust to new conditions. EC offers to some Euro countries so far seem a bit mean, to put it mildly. What if Tory 'one-nation' liberalism, let alone some version of social democracy might want to run ahead of neo-liberalism!  It must leave all Toynbee-ite advocates of massive State intervention in a tricky position.

In another story, for example, the Graun has 

A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies said the Covid-19 pandemic threatened to make life worse for the most vulnerable groups and urged ministers to seize the opportunity to forge an inclusive recovery.

We await details