Labour backs leaving single market, Corbyn confirms
A Labour government would take Britain out of the European single market were it in charge of negotiating Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed.
The Labour leader said single market membership was “inextricably linked” to membership of the EU and that his party would instead seek tariff-free access to trade. Labour’s 2017 election manifesto pledged to focus on “retaining the benefits of the single market and the customs union” but was not explicit on whether Britain would actually remain inside the institutions.
“The single market is dependent on membership of the EU. What we have said all along is that we want a
tariff free trade access to the European market and a partnership with Europe in the future,” Mr Corbyn told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show. “The two things are inextricably linked so the question then is the kind of trade relationship of the future and we have made it very clear we want a tariff free trade access with the European market.”
Mr Corbyn also told the same programme yesterday morning that his party had not decided whether it would keep Britain inside the customs union, having not “jumped on either side of that fence”. Theresa May has said the Conservatives want to leave both the single market and the customs union.
The single market is the guarantee between members that they will scrap tariffs and quotas and harmonise regulations with one another to help the flow of trade in goods, services and people. Membership of the single market notably requires free movement of people by definition. The customs union, which is separate, is an agreement between its members that they will charge the same external tariffs to countries outside it.
Contrary to Mr Corbyn’s suggestion, it is possible to remain in either or both the single market and customs union and be outside the EU. Turkey has never been a member of the EU but sits inside its customs union, while Iceland and Norway are both inside the single market but not EU members.
The Labour leader also used his appearance yesterday morning to pledge to bear down on immigration, arguing that any new policy would stop the “wholesale importation of underpaid workers from Central Europe”. Addressing his previous opposition to the Maastricht treaty Mr Corbyn said he was in favour of the social rights propagated by the EU but was against the idea of turning Europe into a free market bloc.