Filenews 21 November 2022
Top British Government officials plan to put the country on the path of a relationship with the EU along the lines of the relationship Switzerland maintains with the Union, the Sunday Times reported.
The information provoked strong reactions from Conservative party officials who were more strongly supportive of Brexit and who warned that any inclusion in EU regulations for the sake of a closer trade relationship would be unacceptable.
The publication states that at the heart of the British Government has opened a debate on pursuing barrier-free trade relations with the EU, as is the case with Switzerland, but without the free movement of citizens.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, who is reportedly pushing the plan, had commented days ago that unhindered access to trade is beneficial to growth.
The Swiss model also provides for contributions to the Community budget and a degree of supervision of the relationship by the European Court of Justice.
It is in fact a model of relationship very close to what then-Prime Minister Theresa May had proposed during the Brexit negotiations in 2018 and which had been rejected by the pro-Brexit wing of her party.
The newspaper's sources explain that a closer trade relationship without free movement could now be accepted by Europeans in recognition of Britain's strong military support for Ukraine.
However, former chief Brexit negotiator Lord Frost called a shift towards the Swiss model "unacceptable".
On the other hand, ahead of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's speech today at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference, the organisation's President Tony Dunker said that the Government should allow the number of migrants in the country to increase to fill vacancies until British people are found doing these jobs.
