CapX, June 9 2022, Sammy Wilson MP
Over the last week there has much excitement about the views of Remainer Tory MP Tobias Elwood and Tory leaver former MEP Daniel Hannan that it would have been better for the UK to have stayed in the Single European market. They have claimed that doing so would have helped deal with the cost of living crisis and the political, civic and economic problems caused by the Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP).
Nothing could be further from the truth. The cost of living issues have arisen from the lockdown policy across the world which has interrupted global supply chains and the war in Ukraine. EU countries are suffering the same inflationary problems as a result of this lethal combination of self inflicted economic problems.
As far as staying in the single market is concerned, it is wrong to say that the problems with the Protocol would have been avoided had a different form of Brexit been agreed. Apart from the fact that such a course of action would have been contrary to the desires of the electorate expressed in the referendum, the same problems would have still emerged unless the UK had agreed to stay in the EU customs union as well. Had that been the case then there was little point in leaving the EU, and the freedoms to set our own trade deals which are already bearing fruit would have been lost.
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