Do you agree with Iain?
Single market membership has always been the logic of Labour’s position, even though Corbyn usually refers to a “permanent customs union”. Only by joining the European Economic Area could Labour deliver friction-free trade, and protect environmental standards and workers’ rights. People say that Norway has blocked the UK’s entry to the European Economic Area, but this is not true. The Norwegian PM, Erna Solberg, has repeatedly made clear that Norway would have severe reservations –who wouldn’t? – but would not block UK membership.
This is because the EEA is essentially a Brussels creation. It was set up as a halfway house to membership of the EU back in 1994 when a number of countries were uneasy about joining the political institutions of Europe. The EEA is just the European Single Market under another name.
Brussels endorses British membership of the EEA, and this economic arrangement has a number of advantages over May’s deal. There’s no need for an Irish backstop; no membership of the CAP and the Common Fisheries Policy; no direct jurisdiction of the European Court; and it costs less than EU membership. Of course, it does not bring the full benefits of EU membership. Britain would become a “rule taker” on trade. But the EEA does not preclude future membership of the European Herald on Sunday Letters
200 Renfield Street Glasgow G2 3QB sunday-letters@ theherald.co.uk Union. Norway, or any other member of the EEA, can opt for full membership at any time. And unlike the backstop, countries can leave the EEA after one year.
Membership of the single market also means accepting freedom of movement, which is why it may well be rejected by Parliament. But it is the only option that has a snowball’s chance of getting a majority, if Labour were to seriously support it. “Norway plus”, as it’s called, has more support than a repeat referendum. Fewer than 100 Labour MPs have called for a People’s Vote, and only 12 Conservatives. The SNP has decided to throw its lot in with a repeat referendum, despite having argued convincingly for the single market for the last two years. But that isn’t enough.
To repeat. Were it left to me, I would revoke Article 50 tomorrow. I just want this madness to stop. But given the metrics in Parliament, we have to look at the least worst options, as the Labour-supporting commentator Owen Jones put it last week. May’s deal is dead. MPs owe it to the country, and to themselves, to find some compromise that works. Perhaps that can only be achieved with a referendum. But if MPs fail this week, they risk destroying respect for parliamentary democracy, and opening the way for a more authoritarian form of political leadership.