Not quite, but potentially disastrous enough. The US wanted UK IP laws to be changed to be closer to US laws. This included the requirement of a grace period (a period within which an invention can be worked publicly without jeopardising patent rights - one year in the USA). This is contrary to the absolute novelty requirements of the European Patent Convention of which the UK remains a member (the EPC is not an EU body - the likes of Norway, Turkey and iceland are members and Switzerland is a founder member), and would make the UK's continued membership impossible. The Chartered Institute was so concerned that it and the UK's Industry IP commissioned a report as to the value of EPC membership to the UK. This report came out strongly for continued membership, and Boris has said that the UK would remain in the EPC. (Of course, this was the man who said "F*** business", so one never knows).
One interesting aspect - the UK was supposed to be free of foreign courts, but is subject to the decisions of the EPO Boards of Appeal. Perhaps the Daily Express hasn't heard of that one...