Amid reports suggesting that some inside government want to put the UK on a path to a Swiss-style relationship with the EU, immigration minister Robert Jenrick has said there is “no question whatsoever” of the UK reopening the “fundamental tenets” of its Brexit deal.
Asked directly if the UK is going to do a Swiss-style deal with Brussels, he told Sky News: “No, we are not, we have a settled position”.
This follows a story in the Sunday Times that suggested ministers are eyeing up a closer relationship with Brussels.
Speaking on Monday morning, Mr Jenrick said it “couldn’t be further from the truth” that Rishi Sunak’s government is considering putting the UK on the road to a Swiss-style relationship with the union, Jenrick said.
But the immigration minister added: “that doesn’t mean that we are not interested in improving our trading relations with the European Union or indeed in my sphere our security and migration partnership with the European Union… but we are not going to reopen the discussions that we had a few years ago. We have a settled view and we are moving forwards on that basis.”
Like the UK, Switzerland is outside the EU. They have a close economic relationship based on a series of bilateral agreements which give the country direct access to parts of the EU’s internal market including the free movement of people.
The model requires payments to the EU budget.
“We have a settled position on our relationship with the European Union, that’s the deal that was struck in 2019 and 2020 – and that’s the one that we intend to stick to”, Jenrick told TalkTV.
“That sets out the fundamental position that we don’t want to see a return to free movement, we don’t want to have the jurisdiction of European judges in the UK, and we don’t want to be paying any money to the European Union.
“Of course there will be things on which we can improve our relationship – trade, security, migration are all key topics, and the prime minister wants to have the most productive relationship possible with our European friends and neighbours.
“But there’s no question whatsoever of us reopening the fundamental tenets of that deal”.
Downing Street had already rejected the report in the Sunday Times, but the newspaper says discussions were happening behind the scenes.
A source told the paper: “It’s obviously something the EU would never offer us upfront because they would say you are trying to have your cake and eat it but the reason I think we will get it is because it is overwhelmingly in the businesses interests on both sides.”
Any “Swiss” deal would cross multiple redlines for hardline “Brexiteer” Conservative MPs, particularly those who are members of the European Research Group (ERG).
Simon Clarke, who served as levelling up secretary under Liz Truss, was among those to voice criticism over the weekend. The MP tweeted: “I very much hope and believe this isn’t something under consideration. We settled the question of leaving the European Union, definitively, in 2019”.
