{"id":826834,"date":"2026-03-15T06:21:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T06:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/826834\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T06:21:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T06:21:15","slug":"keir-starmer-has-a-chance-to-rejoin-the-eu-single-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/826834\/","title":{"rendered":"Keir Starmer has a chance to rejoin the EU single market"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Sadly, a lot of political UK is still there. They want to be out, but they want the advantages of being in, and claim victimhood when the EU responds that those goodies are for members only. Like Schr\u00f6dinger\u2019s Brexit, they try to present the EU as somehow being unreasonable that it won\u2019t do them favours. It is of course possible to have the advantages, but they come with commitments that the members should play by the rules of the club, and usually some degree of cost for non-members, ask Norway. Terrified, still, of Reform accusations of betrayal, the UK does not have the political maturity to accept these trade offs.\n<\/p>\n

\n That is not to say there aren\u2019t things happening, and however painfully and slowly we inch back to the EU I\u2019ll welcome the efforts. We saw this week the UK government announce an intention to \u201cdynamically align\u201d with the EU rules on a raft of things as a prelude to the long awaited sanitary and phytosanitary agreement (SPS) on import export checks on animal and plant products, also known as food.\n<\/p>\n

\n It staggers me still that the UK essentially has no effective checks on imports of foodstuffs and that so few people have noticed or cared given that \u201ccontrol our borders\u201d was such an emotive cry in the Brexit vote. But absent a comprehensive set of rules and standards, and hoping that the EU imports will still be safe, the UK has limped on with a remarkably lax regime.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE:<\/strong> SNP confirm two new Holyrood candidates after dual resignations<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n Progress is being made on an SPS Agreement, and I welcome that, but I think there will be pushback when the penny drops that the UK will follow, lock stock and barrel, any EU rules on this stuff and any future rules the EU may pass in the future. The UK, obviously, will not be part of the formulation of those rules and for anyone who thought there was a democratic deficit within the EU, here\u2019s an actual one.\n<\/p>\n

\n Likewise, the UK and EU Commission are in deep talks about the ramifications of the Commission\u2019s \u201cBuy European\u201d plans, particularly in relation to electric cars. There was, in 2023, a deal to postpone the entry into force of rules of origin which would hit with 10% tariffs any cars that are not 55% of a car\u2019s value and 70% of the battery made in the UK.\n<\/p>\n

\n This deal ends on January 1, 2027 and if implemented, will be a hefty surcharge on electric cars, given much of the UK-finished cars are largely put together in China. This alongside other discussions like the implementation of the EU CBam \u2013 the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism designed to encourage domestic EU production and discourage carbon heavy imports \u2013 are causing many a headache for heavy industries as they could be hit from all sides.\n<\/p>\n

\n Various UK ministers are spending a lot of time trying to find workarounds and temporary exemptions and there may well be some exemptions to be found, but they are all guddling around the fringes of the core issue: Out means Out.\n<\/p>\n

\n The EU has no incentive to do the UK, or anyone else, favours. They\u2019re simply not going to; why would they give advantages to anyone not willing to join the actual club? So there\u2019s an answer that presents itself if the UK Government<\/a> could find some courage. The EU Single Market is the set of rules EU members, plus Iceland and Norway, work within to regulate trade among each other. This is where most of the rules come from and the rules, to my mind, that the UK should simply get real and join.\n<\/p>\n

\n (Image: Getty)\n<\/p>\n

\n Yes, there will be the democratic deficit that Iceland and Norway have to put up with, but there\u2019s ways in which the UK could be part of the formulation of those rules, there\u2019s already provisions in the Trade and Co-operation Agreement which would allow some democratic oversight. Obviously, I\u2019ll advocate full EU membership, and Scotland could steal a real march on the UK by joining, but the UK being part of the Single Market but not the EU will actually make the independence process easier because the Border at Carlisle will be so much smoother, as well as a boost to trade which the UK could really do with.\n<\/p>\n

\n Because the alternative is what we\u2019re seeing now \u2013 a never-ending series of gaps, cliff edges and and crises as the\n<\/p>\n

\n UK tries to work out what it wants. Scotland has a clear view \u2013 73% of Scots want back in the EU, Single Market and Customs Union, that\u2019s our task. But even in England, things are moving. There\u2019s an argument to be won if Mr Starmer cared to make it, one that would put real distance between him and Reform UK. Sadly, I doubt he will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sadly, a lot of political UK is still there. They want to be out, but they want the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":826835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15],"class_list":["post-826834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brexit","tag-brexit","tag-britain","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-union","tag-great-britain","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116231752058558710","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}