FACT CHECK
THE SNP have consistently argued any Brexit deal should keep Scotland and the UK inside the European single market.
In an interview with Andrew Marr on November 10, the party’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said voters had been misled and had not realised that Brexit would mean leaving the single market.
He said “I do not accept” the public voted to leave the single market in the EU referendum.
Ferret Fact Service assessed Blackford’s claim and found it to be Half True. Evidence Put simply, the European single market attempts to make trade between EU countries as easy as possible. The EU describe it as an area where “the free movement of goods, services, capital and persons is assured, and in which citizens are free to live, work, study and do business”.
There are more countries with single market access – 32 – than the 28 EU members. This is because of the four which make up the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) – Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
Apart from Switzerland, which has bilateral treaties, these non-EU states get access as members of the European Economic Area (EEA), which allows almost full membership of the single market.
After Brexit, there were thought to be broadly three likely outcomes for Britain’s relationship with the single market – membership of the EEA, a free trade agreement (like Switzerland and Canada, for example) or using World Trade Organisation (WTO) trade rules.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies have looked at the probable result of each option.
If the UK remained an EEA member, it would likely keep “near-full membership of the single market on services and similar access on goods”. A free trade agreement would be heavily dependent on negotiation, and WTO rules would mean “access”
The Record, in conjunction with the Ferret Fact Service, is running the rule over the truthfulness of bold claims made by politicians of all hues. In the age of fake news, we will look, impartially, at all the available evidence to find out if politicians are telling the truth, the half-truth or nothing like the truth.
but also costs and trade barriers. Part of Blackford’s claim was that voters were not told leaving the EU would result in exiting the single market.
While leaving the single market was not on the ballot paper, many senior Leave figures said this would be the case, including Boris Johnson and Michael Gove.
In an Andrew Marr interview on May 8, 2016, Gove said: “We should be outside the single market. We should have access to the single market but we should not be governed by the rules that the European Court of Justice imposes on us.” Official campaign Vote Leave said “Britain will have access to the single market after we vote leave” but not membership. But prior to the vote, there were also leading Brexit campaigners saying the UK could keep access. Nigel Farage talked up the “Norway option”, which retains access to the single market by membership of EFTA and EEA. Vote Leave’s Arron Banks also said, on December 30, 2015: “Increasingly the Norway option looks the best for the UK.” The public’s reasons for voting to leave are hard to pin down.
A July 2016 Comres/BBC poll of British voters found 66 per cent said the Government should focus on “maintaining access to the single market so Britain can have free trade with the EU”.
Among Leave voters, 42 per cent agreed but this was secondary to restricting freedom of movement.
A Brexit polling day survey found one-third of Leave voters said it “offered the best chance for the UK to regain control over immigration and its own borders”.
EU leaders have said staying in the single market means keeping freedom of movement, which means immigration restrictions would be difficult to square with membership.
The same poll showed only six per cent of those backing Brexit did so because “when it comes to trade and the economy, the UK would benefit more from being outside the EU than from being part of it”. This suggests economic concerns played a small role in the decision process for Leave voters.
Today we ask.. Did the public vote to leave the European single market?