The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
May rejects Norway-style EU arrangement
Theresa May has again rejected a Norway-style deal with the EU after Brexit.
The move comes after some Tories suggested a temporary “Norway for now” option to soften EU withdrawal.
Norway is a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) and has full access to the single market in exchange for making financial contributions and accepting free movement of people.
Speaking during a visit to Oslo, Mrs May said following Norway’s example would not bring the outcome people voted for in the EU referendum.
She said: “The existing relationship that Norway has with the EU is one that has elements that don’t, wouldn’t, deliver on that vote of the British people.”
Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said some EEA members would find a temporary UK membership of the bloc “a little bit difficult”.
Labour MP David Lammy, a supporter of the Best for Britain campaign for a second referendum, said: “The Norwegian prime minister is even pushing back on Britain being accepted into a club of rule-takers.
“This is yet more embarrassment for our country, which has for so long been a leading decision-maker in the EU.” Brexit may mean “much higher” mobile phone bills for Britons travelling on the continent, a committee of MPs has found.
The government is not planning to maintain the EU’s ban on mobile roaming charges for voice, text messages and data following withdrawal, the House of Commons EU Scrutiny Committee said.
This means it will be up to network operators whether to reintroduce roaming charges on UK customers, following their abolition last year across the whole EU.
UK consumers will also not benefit from proposed price caps for international calls between EU countries.
The EU decided to introduce the cap after finding that telecoms firms were charging mark-ups for international calls that were “not justifiable”.
The cross-party committee advised phone users: “Postexit, consumers should consider the roaming policies of their mobile operators extremely carefully before signing new contracts or using roaming services, as there will be potential for roaming charges much higher than those which preceded the EU’s latest regulatory intervention to be applied.”
The report said that the government will be able to limit the extent to which operators can directly charge UK consumers for roaming services, and some operators may not reintroduce roaming charges.
But it warned: “The government cannot prevent operators from incurring these increased costs, which may over time be passed on to consumers by a variety of means, (for example) higher contract costs.”