The Single Market and British Withdrawal

The EC Customs Union dates to 1957. The Single European Act came into effect in 1992 and superimposed on the Customs Union a costly, tightly-regulated, supposedly harmonised internal market: the Single Market. The outsourcing to Brussels of the regulation of all the City’s financial markets, the Social Chapter, the Working Time Directive, Health and Safety and Tax Harmonisation: all are part of the pursuit of the Single Market.

Membership of the Single Market is often said to be vital for British trade. The facts suggest that that proposition is wrong.