Tag: Norman Lamont

Britain should accept continued EU regulations in goods in return for retaining access to the EU single market, one of the thinktanks closest to Downing Street has proposed. After consultations across business and politics, a report from Open Europe concludes: “There is no strong business case for immediate significant divergence from the EU’s regulatory regime.” It says adherence to EU standards would not restrict growth in the export of British goods outside the EU. However, a long-term willingness to accept EU rules in the field of goods would require a greater role for the European court of justice, or at least a judicial dispute resolution mechanism informed by the ECJ rulings, and would also set limits on the UK’s ability to negotiate its own free trade deals. The compromise will be seen as significant step forward by European business leaders, many of whom are due to meet Theresa May on Monday in Downing Street. The proposal is largely endorsed by the Eurosceptic former chancellor Norman Lamont in a foreword to the pamphlet. Manufacturers in highly regulated industries often follow EU rules anyway, in some cases even in the US. “The debate at the moment is polarised between hardline leavers who refuse to accept giving up any sovereignty whatever the economic costs, and extreme remainers who want to either reverse the referendum result or at least recreate the entire structures of the EU from the outside. The report says a twin-track trading strategy for goods and services is justified by the trade flow figures. In 2016 the EU accounted for around 48% of UK goods exports, with the EU representing by far the UK goods industries’ most important export market. The bulk of this trade is in motor vehicles and parts, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and computing, electronic and electrical products.