The Liberal Democrats are to set out a roadmap for Britain to rejoin the European Union’s single market – reversing the most damaging parts of Brexit.
The party’s spring conference is on Saturday expected to back a policy calling for the UK’s economic re-integration with the EU once “the ties of trust and friendship are renewed”.
The plan is a response to amid widespread disruption to trade between Britain and the EU thanks to the government’s “hard” Brexit.
New red tape introduced by leaving the EU has seen queues of lorries at ports, plummeting exports, and companies quitting the market altogether.
A new policy paper backed by the liberal party’s leadership says that “the best option, bringing most benefits to the UK economy and society, is to seek to join the single market”.
This would give UK businesses full access to the European Economic Area, reintroduce freedom of movement, and resolve outstanding issues with the Northern Ireland Brexit deal, the party says.
The first step of the roadmap calls for “immediate” initiatives to repair the UK-EU relationship, including granting full settled status to EU citizens and ramping up the British presence in Brussels.
The party would then gradually phase in UK-EU cooperation on issues like the Erasmus Plus university programme and the caring for of asylum seekers.
It would then push for a series of reciprocal deals on issues like recognition of professional qualifications, fast-track work visas, and a veterinary agreement.
Only then “once the trading relationship between the UK and the EU is deepened, and the ties of trust and friendship are renewed” would the party seek to join the single market, while remaining outside the European Union itself.
Layla Moran, the Liberal Democrats’ Europe spokesperson, cited the war in Ukraine as an illustration of why the UK and EU “cannot afford to be disunited”.
“For too long, our ties with Europe have been defined by petty squabbling and the government’s overly ideological approach,” she said.
“British people and small businesses who are tangled in red tape are paying the price and they deserve better.
“The reality is that we need a way forward which works for Britain – one where we stand with our allies, reduce costs for businesses and make people better off as a result.
“Our comprehensive roadmap will start a new trading relationship with Europe – with British businesses and families benefiting as a result.”
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey this week made a pitch for a coalition with Labour after the next election – and has previously suggested he would not work with Boris Johnson’s Conservatives.
Labour’s Europe policy is less ambitious than the liberals’, and calls relatively minor changes to the governemnt’s Brexit deal, like a new veterinary agreement. The party has declined to back single market membership or free movement – despite a pledge by Keir Starmer at the party’s leadership election.
UK to EU exports fell 12 per cent between January and December of last year, compared to the previous year – with supply chain disruption, new trade barriers, and additional red tape caused by Brexit cited as the main reasons.
Sales to the EU dropped more sharply in 2021 than exports to any other country in the world, according to the data. Non-EU exports were also down by 6 per cent – suggesting the rest of the world is not stepping in to fill the gap.
