| What's happening? The European Union rowed back on a threat of legal action over the Northern Ireland protocol, and Britain will scrap a piece of planned red tape on wine imports. The EU has backed off a threat of imminent legal action against the U.K. over breaches of the Northern Ireland protocol of the Brexit agreement as the two sides try to work through their differences. Officials from Brussels and London will talk through the summer to find technical solutions, though it's unlikely all the issues will be solved, and the EU won't let Britain renegotiate the deal it signed, a person familiar with the matter told Alberto Nardelli and John Follain. Brussels' pertinacity renewed skittishness among investors bullish on the U.K. pound. China's slowdown, together with a surge in Britain's coronavirus infection rate, hasn't helped. Sterling is on course for its first back-to-back monthly declines versus the dollar since March 2020 — when the coronavirus became a pandemic and spurred turbulence in markets worldwide — and only its second month of losses versus the euro in almost a year.  Brexit red tape could deprive Northern Ireland consumers of more than 2,000 generic medicines made in Great Britain, the British Generic Manufacturers Association said. The U.K. and EU have been locked in a series of arguments about how products can flow between Britain and Northern Ireland since the separation from the political bloc at the start of the year. Still, many businesses see the protocol as an opportunity that could boost jobs and growth because it leaves Northern Ireland the only part of the U.K. able to trade with the bloc as before. Bottoms up! The U.K. government said it would scrap a piece of planned red tape on wine imports, a move it said would save 10 pence ($0.14) on each bottle imported into Britain. It also won't require the same certification for wine imports from non-EU countries, including Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Together, that'll save wine importers about 100 million pounds annually, according to the Wine and Spirit Trade Association. Despite the Brexit tensions between them, France and the U.K. agreed to keep cooperating on "new security challenges," including cyber, the Indo-Pacific region and the fight against terrorism in Africa. Defense is a long-time area of partnership between the two countries, though they have adopted different strategies for the longer term, with the U.K. focusing more on cyberdefense and France maintaining a more traditional approach to military threats. Graduates of top global universities will no longer need a job offer in order to secure a visa to work in the U.K., under a government plan to boost innovation. The move is part of a wider plan to overhaul rules and regulations facing industry as the government seeks to increase the country's competitiveness after Brexit in everything from financial services to technology. —Lizzy Burden We aim to keep you up to date on how the U.K. navigates the world after Brexit. Got tips or feedback? Email us at beyondbrexit@bloomberg.net  Londoners appear far more interested in getting back to shops and restaurants in the West End than they are in returning to the office, and even England's much-vaunted "Freedom Day" earlier this month had little impact on shifting workers. Despite the lifting of coronavirus restrictions on July 19, minicab and courier company Addison Lee says that passenger bookings to and from the capital's financial hubs recovered less than expected. "A damp squib," was the blunt description of Freedom Day from chief operating officer Patrick Gallagher. "In Canary Wharf, the lack of a return to the office is stark." You can follow us @Brexit on Twitter, and listen to Bloomberg Westminster every weekday. Share Beyond Brexit: Colleagues, friends and family can sign up here. For full EU coverage, try the Brussels Edition. You can find all of our newsletters here, but here are some we think you'd particularly enjoy: Bloomberg is also tracking the progress of coronavirus vaccines and mapping the pandemic. Sign up here for our Coronavirus Daily newsletter and here for our podcast. Subscribe to Bloomberg.com for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and expert analysis. | 
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