Britain should rejoin the Single Market, says Ellwood

A SENIOR Conservative backbencher has suggested Britain should rejoin the European Single Market to ease the cost of living crisis.

Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the defence select committee, said “radical thinking” was required to tackle rising inflation, even if it meant accepting EU regulations.

The MP, who was a Remainer and has been a vocal critic of Boris Johnson, said politicians “must dare to assess how Brexit, the biggest geopolitical decision in a generation, is faring”.

In an article, published by the website Politicshome, Mr Ellwood said the decision to leave the EU Single Market, which was “not on the ballot paper” in the 2016 Brexit referendum, has had adverse consequences, such as a £20billion reduction in exports and difficulty on the Irish border.

He said: “All these challenges would disappear if we dare to advance our Brexit model by re-joining the EU Single Market (the Norway model).

“If joining the Single Market (with conditions) results in strengthening our economy, easing the cost of living crisis, settling the Irish problem at a stroke and promoting our European credentials as we take an ever greater lead in

‘If rejoining results in strengthening our economy, would it not be churlish to face this reality?’

Ukraine, would it not be churlish to face this reality?”

Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury, said he was “pleased to reassure” Mr Ellwood that his plan would not happen.

“Single Market membership would extinguish half the freedoms that make Brexit so important and Boris [Johnson] is the principal reason we were able to escape it,” he said.