Brexit: UK upper house votes to stay in EU single market
May 9, 2018
The British government suffered the latest in a string of legislative defeats on Brexit when the House of Lords voted in favor of four amendments to a key Brexit blueprint — including remaining in the EU single market.
The changes the House of Lords approved to the Brexit blueprint include requiring the government to negotiate staying in the European Economic Area, the EU's single market. That amendment was approved 245 votes to 218.
Both May and Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, have said they support the UK leaving the single market after their country leaves the bloc.
After the House of Lords, the bill will return to the House of Commons where May's coalition government has a slight majority, and it is possible that the amendments will be rejected. Both houses have to come to an agreement on the final wording of the bill before it can become law.
Earlier on Tuesday, the House of Lords voted 311 to 233 in favour of removing a proposed fixed time for the Brexit departure next year.
It also voted 298 to 227 in favor of an amendment that means Britain should keep up relations with EU agencies after leaving the bloc.
The government has proposed keeping membership of some EU agenciets involving medicine, chemicals and aviation while leaving others after Brexit.
The UK is likely to leave the EU police agency Europol and lose automatic membership to bodies like the European Maritime Safety Agency and the European Environment Agency.
Deal or no deal? Brexit options boiled down
There's a spectrum of options on Britain's future relationship with the EU, each with a distinct set of advantages and disadvantages. While euroskeptic purists favor a clean "hard Brexit," others favor a softer landing.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R.Vieira/W.Rothermel
Hard or soft options
It's essentially a choice of a harder or softer Brexit. Harder prioritizes border control over trade. UK firms would pay tariffs to do business in the EU, and vice versa. The softest Brexit would see access to the single market, or at least a customs union, maintained. That would require concessions — including the payment of a hefty "divorce bill" — to which the UK has provisionally agreed.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R.Vieira/W.Rothermel
A leap into the unknown
Businesses have expressed concern about a "cliff edge" scenario, where Britain leaves the EU with no deal. Even if an agreement is reached at the EU bloc level, the worry is that it could be rejected at the last minute. Each of the 27 remaining countries must ratify the arrangements, and any might reject them. That could mean chaos for businesses and individuals.
If there is no agreement at all, a fully sovereign UK would be free to strike new trade deals and need not make concessions on the rights of EU citizens living in the UK or pay the financial settlement of outstanding liabilities. However, trade would be crippled. UK citizens in other parts of the EU would be at the mercy of host governments. There would also be a hard EU-UK border in Ireland.
Image: Imago
Divorce-only deal
The EU and the UK could reach a deal on Britain's exiting the bloc without an agreement on future relations. This scenario would still be a very hard Brexit, but would at least demonstrate a degree of mutual understanding. Trade agreements would be conducted, on an interim basis, on World Trade Organization rules.
Image: Fotolia/Jens Klingebiel
Limited arrangement, like with Canada
Most trade tariffs on exported goods are lifted, except for "sensitive" food items like eggs and poultry. However, exporters would have to show their products are genuinely "made in Britain" so the UK does not become a "back door" for global goods to enter the EU. Services could be hit more. The City of London would lose access to the passporting system its lucrative financial business relies on.
Under the Swiss model, the UK would have single market access for goods and services while retaining most aspects of national sovereignty. Switzerland, unlike other members of the European Free Trade Area (EFTA), did not join the European Economic Area (EEA) and was not automatically obliged to adopt freedom of movement. Under a bilateral deal, it agreed to do so but is still dragging its feet.
Image: picture-alliance/Anka Agency International
The Norway way
As part of the European Economic Area, Norway has accepted freedom of movement – something that no Brexit-supporting UK government would be likely to do. Norway still has to obey many EU rules and is obliged to make a financial contribution to the bloc while having no voting rights. Some see this as the worst of both worlds.
Image: dapd
A Turkey-style customs union
Turkey is the only major country to have a customs union with the EU, as part of a bilateral agreement. Under such an arrangement, the UK would not be allowed to negotiate trade deals outside the EU, instead having the bloc negotiate on its behalf. Many Brexiteers would be unwilling to accept this. It would, however, help minimize disruption at ports and, crucially, at the Irish border.
Image: Reuters/N. Hall
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'Not about stopping Brexit'
Angela Smith, the opposition Labour party's leader in the House of Lords, said the amendments were "not about stopping Brexit but the fine print of when and how the agreements are concluded."
Earlier on Tuesday, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, an outspoken supporter of Britain's withdrawal from the EU, said the future customs plan backed by May would not fulfil many of the promises of Brexit.
"If you have the new customs partnership, you have a crazy system whereby you end up collecting the tariffs on behalf of the EU at the UK frontier," he told the Daily Mail.
"If the EU decides to impose punitive tariffs on something the UK wants to bring in cheaply there's nothing you can do," he added.
