Sir Martin Donnelly has warned on the consequences of leaving the EU single market, comparing it to “rejecting a three-course meal now in favour of the promise of a packet of crisps later”.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the former permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade said that the UK needs to align pursue close alignment with EU single market rules.
“You’re giving up a three-course meal, the depth and intensity of our trade relationship across the European Union and partners now, for the promise of a packet of crisps in the future, if we manage to do trade deals in the future outside the EU which aren’t going to compensate for what we’re giving up,” he said on Tuesday.
“We risk losing that level playing field or being shut out entirely and we have got to look at how this really works in practice,” he said. “The challenge if we choose not to stay in the single market, is can we negotiate equal access in all those areas of services without agreeing to obey the same rules as everybody else?
“I’m afraid I think that’s not a negotiation, that is something for a fairy godmother. It’s not going to happen.”
Donnelly will give a speech on Wednesday warning of the lack of evidence surrounding the idea that leaving the single market will automatically lead to a greater trade with countries outside of the EU, including China.
He will continue his speech to predict the UK’s return to the single market after discovering the “negative” consequences of leaving.
“Given the negative consequences of leaving, and the lack of any significant offsetting advantages, I believe it is likely the UK will seek to return to full membership of the EU single market in due course. But significant damage to employment, the structure of the economy and the competitiveness of UK firms can be expected in the meantime,” he will say.