Brexit: Barclay denies UK wants ‘Swiss-style’ relationship with EU
A senior cabinet minister has denied reports the UK wants a closer “Swiss-style” relationship with the EU post-Brexit.
Health secretary Steve Barclay has said he doesn’t “recognise” the proposal and that chancellor Jeremy Hunt outlined “our determination to maximise post-Brexit opportunities in pro-growth areas” during his autumn statement on Thursday.
The Sunday Times reported today that senior government officials wanted to negotiate a closer trading relationship with the EU, after the budgetary watchdog this week said the volume of UK trade will take a 15 per cent long-term hit thanks to Brexit.
Switzerland, while not a member of the EU, has frictionless trade with the bloc and is in its single market.
This means that Switzerland has freedom of movement of people, goods, capital and services.
The UK would have to accept larger payments to the EU budget, more EU-UK migration and a larger role for the European Court of Justice to move to a Swiss-style relationship – three things that would enrage Brexiteers.
Barclay told Sky News that Prime MinisterRishi Sunak supported Brexit and that a return to the EU single market was not on the cards.
“If you look at the autumn statement, what the chancellor set out was our determination to maximise post -Brexit opportunities in pro-growth areas,” he said.
“Whether that’s in green industries, whether that’s in life sciences, whether it’s in financial services. There were specific announcements in the autumn statement in Solvency II.”
He added: “It’s in both sides’ interests to remove barriers [to trade]. That’s mutually beneficial and of course we want to work constructively with our EU partners to do that.”
There are no tariffs on goods between the UK and EU, however British businesses now face extensive paperwork and red tape when trading with the bloc.
One senior UK government official said the UK had an opportunity to broker better relations with the EU now and to reduce trade barriers.
“It’s obviously something the EU would never offer us upfront because they would say you are trying to have your cake and eat it but the reason I think we will get it is because it is overwhelmingly in the businesses interests on both sides,” one said.
Tony Danker, chief executive at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), told the BBC that the UK was facing “another decade of low productivity and low growth”, and that “it’s no surprise we’re looking at ways of growing the economy that don’t cost money”.
“One obvious place is improved trade with Europe,” he said.
“The problem is that we’re not even implementing Boris’ deal … which has more opportunity we’re not capturing.”