Is it time to rejoin the single market? Tobias Ellwood says yes
Is it time to rejoin the single market? Tobias Ellwood says yes
The Senior Tory MP has called on both the government and Labour to show courage and admit that Brexit has failed
The Senior Tory MP has called on both the government and Labour to show courage and admit that Brexit has failed
Staying in the single market for goods was one of the brexit options that no one got to vote on, aka the Norway model, that would have prevented the vast majority of brexit issues
Staying in the single market for goods would have certainly helped with many of the logistical issues business and consumers have faced due to Brexit. But remember that the UK/EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement has at least allowed for tariff-free and quota-free trade in goods since Brexit - not as good as the single market, but at least not the worst possible outcome for goods trade.
The UK, however, is a service-based high-skill economy. From a growth and employment and competitiveness perspective, it's trade in the service sector (and ultimately re-entry to the single market for services) that is the big prize we need to shoot for - where the Brexit agreement fell woefully short and which the Tories seemed clueless about the importance of it in the negotiations.They invested huge amounts of political capital in fighting over arrangements for fishing (which accounts for less than 0.1% of the UK economy) but basically never went in to bat on services (which accounts for about 80%).
Sure, but there isn’t really a single market for many services even within the EU anyway. If you’re French, you can’t buy car insurance from Italy or have a German bank account. And those are the upper reaches of the services economy. It goes without saying that you can’t have a cross-border haircut or swimming lesson. The vast majority of services are extremely local by nature.
As for the City, there’s still plenty of Chinese and Arab money to launder so I’m sure they’ll be fine.
Btw, I say all this as a staunch remainer. Brexit was dumb, but it’s free movement and trade in goods where most of the effects are felt.
I assume services was left out because it's the area where the UK has areas of competitive advantage like fintech, deeptech, life sciences etc.
The EU would have demanded dynamic alignment of regulations for any inclusion and that would negate any advantage that could be gained.
The first test will be AI regulation, the EU has opted for a horizontal approach whereas UK is going for a vertical one which has received a welcome response from the AI industry
Should've never left
How much influence does this guy have?
He's a fairly high profile Tory backbencher and respected enough for his fellow Tories to have elected him as chair of the defence select committee.
He's not going to change government policy but the fact Tories like him will speak out on this is the sort of thing that will hopefully lower the bar to other sensible Tories starting to find their voices again. It's always easier putting your head above the parapet if someone else has done it first.
The EU is a corrupt totalitarian regime run by banks for their own benefit. The reason we have private finance initiatives which force public services to pay high interest rates is because of EU laws preventing borrowing from central banks.
Sigh. You'd have thought the Wagner Group troll farms would be busy with other things at the moment...
Why doesn't the EU stop doing protectionism and reform itself?
You can see what the problem is every time you see the EU cookie notice.
The cookie banners you see everywhere are an unintended consequence of GDPR, and new legislation is underway to make them less of a hassle. The intention of GDPR and it’s laws were 100% required and welcome.
The law: You can't collect data without consent
The intent: Sites stop collecting data without consent
Sites interpretation: So I ask for consent right? right??