European Commission President Juncker greets Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on arrival at EU HQ in Brussels, June 29, 2016.Geert Vanden Wijngaert / Press Association. All rights reserved. With the total vacuum in political leadership at Westminster, what comes next, after the Brexit vote, is less than clear.
From the discussion so far, it looks as if the UK may spend the next few years arguing and negotiating over how it might get some access back to the EU’s single market, with somewhat less freedom of movement than now. Given that, while still in the EU, the UK currently has full access to that market and a significant voice and vote in the rules and standards of the single market – and it will soon have none – this is a bizarre enough result of the Brexit vote, not least given the slogan of ‘taking back control’ – perhaps ‘giving up control’ would have been more accurate.
A typical UK debate?
But there is something familiar too in this debate over whether we can get almost as much access as Norway, or a trade deal like Canada or an association agreement like Ukraine. Once again the UK seems to be focusing on the EU only as an economic market.
