That's interesting, Keith. I am being serious here - no point scoring agenda.

There are a few reasons why we might be making concessions that I can think of.

The most positive I can think from a Brexit viewpoint is that they do not think it over important, because all that matters is the final agreement - anything you say on the way is bye-the-bye. That is basically the "Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed" line. All that mattered at this stage was opening the lock to the important bit.

The second reason might be that we have poor negotiators. That is pretty bad, as if they are poor at this stage they are likely to be poor at the next.

The third reason could be that the UK hand is much weaker than they are letting the public know. That would also be dreadful, because it means they are not as confident of the 'no deal' benefits as they claim. Otherwise, why concede anything?

Are there any other explanations that occur to you?