Re-setting the UK - Europe Relationship for the 21st Century Lucy Powell MP and Robert Halfon MP On behalf of the cross-party Norway Plus Group About the ‘Norway Plus’ group The Norway Plus Group is an informal group of MPs who are committed to overcoming narrow tribal party-political divides, in the national interest. We don’t have a formal committee structure, and nor do we have any official designation or legal status. Each weekly meeting is chaired by Nick Boles MP and Stephen Kinnock MP. We are simply united by two core beliefs: first that MPs must act to ensure that the UK does not crash out of the European Union (EU) without a deal, and second that the Common Market 2.0 proposals which are set out in this document represent the only form of Brexit that respects the referendum result whilst protecting the jobs and livelihoods of our constituents. Lucy Powell MP and Robert Halfon MP have co-authored this pamphlet on behalf of the Norway Plus Group. The Norway Plus Group wishes to thank George Peretz QC, Anneli Howard and Adrian Yalland for the legal expertise, advice and guidance that they have provided. Contents Foreword 4 Leading the way in a 21st century Common Market 6 Respecting the referendum result without wrecking the economy: 6 why we need Common Market 2.0 The path to Common Market 2.0 7 A leading role in Europe, outside the EU 8 The EU and EFTA countries support our proposals 8 Common Market 2.0: more control with continued economic access 10 Common Market 2.0 offers new powers to control immigration 11 Common Market 2.0 would enhance our national sovereignty 12 UK payments would reduce significantly 13 A negotiated Customs arrangement would mean the Irish backstop 14 would not need to be activated Leading Brexit campaigners supported an EFTA-based Brexit 14 ahead of the referendum campaign A prosperous future for the UK 16 Trade 16 Workers’ rights 16 Citizenship rights 17 Standards and regulations 17 Participating in EU agencies 17 Environmental 17 Industry and procurement 18 Digital 18 Foreword • Meet Labour’s six tests, and deliver on Jeremy Corbyn’s call for a customs union and a strong Single Market deal. The UK is a great country with a deep and proud history. Yet, one thing most will • According to the EU’s chief negotiator probably agree on, we aren’t exactly covering Michel Barnier, offer genuinely frictionless ourselves in glory right now. In fact much of trade with the EU as it is based on a set of the public feel quite alarmed at the seeming institutions and procedures that already exist. mess we have got ourselves into with Brexit. Many are fed up to the back teeth of hearing Substantively, we also believe our plan meets about all the endless “Groundhog Day” twists the key issues expressed in the referendum and turns. All the while it’s getting worse, itself and the key stumbling blocks that have not better, as we head towards the exit door emerged since, as well as getting us as close as without any agreement over a deliverable plan. possible to “the exact same benefits” offered during the referendum. What’s more, as things stand, it’s clear that there isn’t a parliamentary majority for any of Our proposal takes as its starting point the three main options being discussed: the the common refrain that we both heard Prime Minister’s deal, a no deal or a second from voters in our constituencies during referendum. the referendum campaign: “We voted for a Common Market, not all this political stuff.” As MPs at the centre of all this, we feel the In the 1970s and 1980s, the British people same. However, the House of Commons broadly supported our membership of the has the power and the opportunity to do European Economic Community (EEC) because something about it. Increasingly, MPs from all it delivered clear economic benefits to British parties are reaching the conclusion that we businesses and workers. It was only as the need to put aside tribal, political differences “ever closer political union” took hold, that and accept that every option carries risks and people began to turn against it. Common no one outcome is anyone’s ideal. Market 2.0 offers us a way to recreate that simple economic relationship, which is free of Today we are coming together to argue for all the political paraphernalia of the modern EU. a Brexit deal that delivers the result of the 2016 referendum and protects the economic As members of Common Market 2.0, the UK interests of working people in Manchester, would still have to accept the free movement in Harlow and right across the UK. Our plan of workers from other European countries, is based on the principles of “Norway Plus” but we would have new powers to restrict and establishes that after the transition, in European migration in certain circumstances if December 2020, the UK should join a new our government deems it necessary, because Common Market for the twenty-first century. the European Economic Area (EEA) agreement Let’s call it Common Market 2.0. gives members the right to unilaterally suspend the freedom of movement if it can show that Politically, the Common Market 2.0 would: it is having “serious economic, societal or • Offer Theresa May a last chance of a deal environmental difficulties”. In addition, we that can command a cross-party majority believe the government should implement and win the support of business leaders stricter enforcement of existing requirements and trade unions; for European migrants to find work within 4 three months or otherwise demonstrate that by creating certainty with a long-term they can support themselves without claiming relationship. benefits. Successive governments have failed to 2. Guarantee workers’ rights and protections enforce these rules properly and have let down for the long-term as part of Common the working class communities we represent as Market membership a result. 3. Provide new controls over Free Movement In Common Market 2.0, most EU rules would in certain circumstances when our not apply to us at all as we would be outside government deems it necessary the common agriculture, fisheries, justice and 4. Allow more money for public services as home affairs policies. UK representatives would our contributions to the Common Market sit on the policy-shaping committees that draw 2.0 would be significantly lower than to the up proposals for new Single Market legislation EU, in fact about half. and we would be able to resist pressure to 5. Take the UK out of the (ever closer) implement new rules that we don’t like. EU political union, the Common Fisheries law would no longer have either “direct effect” Policy, Common Agricultural Policy and the or “direct applicability” in the UK. We would ECJ leave the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and join the European Free Trade 6. Take back control of budgetary Association (EFTA) court whose decisions are contributions from the EU and remove non-binding. UK courts would once again be the VAT element. supreme. Parliament would be fully sovereign. 7. Eliminate the need for the Irish backstop to be activated because we would move Although we would still need to make a seamlessly from the transition period into financial contribution for access to the Common Market 2.0 Common Market 2.0, the annual amount would equate to not much more than half the amount This pamphlet, drafted by wider cross-party we currently pay. grouping with expert legal advice, sets out, for the first time, the significant benefits of Finally, as members of both the Single Market a new Common Market 2.0 proposal for the and a new customs arrangement mirroring the UK when it leaves the EU. We believe this current customs union, there would be no reason offers a genuine opportunity to not only for the Irish backstop ever to be activated after command a majority in Parliament but to the end of the transition. The union of Great bring together the country around the UK Britain and Northern Ireland, which is precious leaving the EU but creating a new, powerful to both of us, would remain intact and the Common Market partnership with it for the foundations of peace in Northern Ireland as set long-term. Delivering Brexit in a way that out in the Good Friday Agreement preserved in protects the economic interest of the working perpetuity. people we represent will require all of us to compromise. We both believe that leaving In summary, the Common Market 2.0 would: the EU and joining a Common Market 2.0 is a compromise that MPs of all parties, and all 1. Safeguard jobs by offering real frictionless shades of opinion, should be able to support. trade through full access to the Single Market and a new customs union, and 5 1. Leading the way in a 21st century Common Market Respecting the referendum result without wrecking the economy: why we need Common Market 2.0 In 1973 the UK joined the EEC – otherwise The 52% to 48% margin of victory does not known as the Common Market - a decision that represent a mandate to remain in the EU and was subsequently supported by a public vote carry on with business as usual. But neither is in 1975. Yet in 2016, 17.4 million people voted it a call for a hard Canada-style Brexit, nor for to leave the EEC’s successor – the EU.