The EU’s former Brexit negotiator has cautioned the UK cannot “cherry pick” the portions of the single market it signs up to after Andy Burnham stated he wanted to explore closer economic links with Europe.
The prime minister suggested he might explore options, including rejoining the bloc’s internal market, as part of a reworking of ties after the UK’s divorce from the EU nearly six years ago. But Michel Barnier told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that EU nations would insist on the UK reintroducing some terms, like as free movement of persons, to secure access.
He said there was no “menu of the single market à la carte” whereby the UK could pick and choose which features to adopt. Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator during Brexit talks from 2016 to 2021 and briefly French prime minister in 2024, said the “door is open” for the UK to rejoin the EU as a member.
But he said any move to enter the single market, which allows goods to be traded freely without border controls, would mean the UK would have to abide by the same terms as other members. He said this also covered compliance with rules aimed at facilitating the movement of goods, services, capital and people, commonly known as the “four freedoms” among EU institutions.
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