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Quick Brexit facts read by Ministers, ex-Ministers, MPs, MEPs, Councillors, legal and financial experts, local campaigners, and the general public - From reliable, official sources
THE SINGLE MARKET
The series of articles below were produced last year (2016). Since then we have published many more articles about the Single Market on our news pages, but alas our lack of resources means that we can't keep updating pages like this one.

May we suggest that when you have read the articles below, you use the news pages to read updated information.
       Facts4EU.Org, 07.00am, 05 April 2017
THE SINGLE MARKET - ESSENTIAL FACTS
A SPECIAL 10-PART REPORT FROM THE FACTS4EU.ORG TEAM
Below are 10 one-minute articles about the Single Market.
If you like this work, please send it to friends and post it widely online!
The link is : http://facts4eu.org/brexit_and_the_single_market.shtml
1. What is 'the Single Market'?
2. What is it worth and how much does it cost the UK?
3. Why does this question affect the value of the Pound so much?
4. Did the UK vote mean a vote to leave it?
5. What about the City and 'financial passports'?
6-9. The OECD's 2016 devastating report on the Single Market
10. Has it made the UK wealthier?
We have extensively researched this using official EU documents and data, as well as official Government data and information from institutions such as the OECD and IMF.
15 October 2016
PART ONE - WHAT IS 'THE SINGLE MARKET'?
WE GIVE YOU THE SIMPLE FACTS
The Single Market isn’t about trade, it’s about politics
1. No other trading bloc in the world:
  • Demands political obedience
  • Demands open borders
  • Imposes its own social laws on members
  • Imposes its tax system on members
  • Has its own (failing) currency
  • Is forming its own army
  • Has shown no growth since 2008
  • Demands £10bn per year membership fee
The ‘Single Market’ should really be called the ‘Single Government’
2. Despite the hype, there's no visible effect on the UK’s growth rate in 25 years
3. The Single Market is based on goods not services - only 21% of UK economy is goods
  • Previous Governments (including Messrs Osborne and Cameron) talked of the EU 'completing the Single Market' as being vital
  • What they mean is that it should have been extended to cover services long ago
  • Services make up almost 80% of UK economy
  • In 25 years, the EU still has no effective single market in services
  • In the EU, when something's in the UK's interests, it doesn't get done
4. The Single Market is intrinsically bound into EU Membership
  • The term 'Single Market' doesn't appear anywhere in the EU treaties
  • Instead it is referred to as the 'internal market'
  • It includes the 4 freedoms - goods, services, capital and people - and requires subjection to the European Court of Justice
  • The EU legal database contains 31,483 documents relating to the internal market - Treaties, International agreements, Legislation, EFTA documents, Consolidated legislation, Preparatory acts, EU case law, Directives, Judgements, Decisions etc
5. Over 160 countries trade happily with the EU, without joining the Single Market
  • If the UK leaves the EU, trade will carry on
  • The UK will negotiate a 'British Option' - a trade deal in the UK's interests
  • Even falling back on WTO arrangements will still be better than the current system
  • No more mass immigration, no more EU-imposed laws, no more EU politics
  • Just good profitable trade, the way the rest of the world has done it for years
1 Note: The graph showing average growth was produced from ONS data.
15 October 2016
WINNING THE ECONOMIC ARGUMENT
with Facts4EU.org
PART TWO
Costs and Benefits
UK payments to EU since we joined. Click below to enlarge.

THE EU'S SINGLE MARKET AND FREE TRADE DEALS WITH THE WORLD
Here is how well a country like Australia has done
And here are the results of the EU's efforts
WHAT’S THE SINGLE MARKET WORTH TO THE UK?
Here’s a summary of the benefits and costs of the Single Market – using official EU data
Q: Any benefit to GDP?  A: Virtually none.
  • In 2012 the EU Commission claimed the Single Market had raised EU GDP by 2.13% in 20 years
  • So that’s just 0.1% per year, compared to a UK average of 2.5% p.a. over the last 60 years
  • And this is from the EU, who normally exaggerate their achievements.
Q: Is there any job creation which could make it worthwhile?  A: No.
  • In the 16 years to 2008, “The Single Market helped to create 2.77 million new jobs – a 1.3% increase in total EU employment.” (EU Commission)
  • That’s only 16,500 UK jobs per year, compared to 434,000 jobs created by the UK in the last year.
  • UK created 26 times more jobs than the Single Market managed.
Q: Is the cost worth it?  A: No, it costs more than it generates.
  • Up to 4% of EU GDP, twice the estimated benefits of the Single Market, according to Lord Mandelson when EU Trade Commissioner.
  • Up to 7% of EU GDP, according to the then Chancellor Gordon Brown, referring to “barriers to external trade and investment - such as tariffs, quotas and unjustifiably restrictive standards”
  • 6% of EU GDP (or €600 billion) according to the EU Commission in 2006 and again in 2009. “These administrative costs reflect activities directly related to the compliance with information requirements contained in legislation, such as the time and effort in filling out forms.
So that makes the costs of the Single Market
2-3 times the supposed benefits.

In the last year the UK has created 26 times more jobs
than the Single Market has.

And this comes from the EU,
following detailed research by Facts4EU.org.
   15 Oct 2016
WINNING THE ECONOMIC ARGUMENT
with Facts4EU.org
PART THREE
The Pound
WHY DOES THIS QUESTION AFFECT THE VALUE OF THE POUND SO MUCH?
In recent weeks, Government statements on the Single Market have caused falls in the Pound
There are several reasons :
  • UK and international Banks were almost all pro-Remain
  • They want the UK’s continued membership of the Single Market because it means the UK doesn’t truly leave the EU
  • The EU’s propaganda about its Single Market is believed by many people
  • The same misinformation is propagated by the Treasury & Bank of England
  • Very, very few people understand the Single Market – including ForEx dealers
  • Even fewer know the short facts we have set out in this simple series of articles
It is accepted internationally that the Pound was overvalued before the vote and had been falling for some time. Some further depreciation was necessary, and it is certainly beneficial for the UK’s exports. It’s now reaching what many consider to be its natural level.
The Government urgently needs to conduct a PR/education campaign to explain the Single Market to a wide domestic and international audience.
   15 Oct 2016
WINNING THE ECONOMIC ARGUMENT
with Facts4EU.org
PART FOUR
What did the UK vote for?
DID THE UK VOTE TO LEAVE THE SINGLE MARKET?
The simple answer is yes
Britain’s continued membership of the Single Market is currently a hot topic. MPs, Members of the House of Lords, and a wide variety of professional and other pressure groups are claiming that no-one voted to leave the Single Market.
They say that this wasn’t made clear during the Referendum campaign. This is simply not true. Here are the Prime Minister and the Chancellor :
And here is what Stronger IN (the official Remain campaign) said:
“There is no country that has full access to the single market without paying in to the EU budget and there is no country that has full access to the single market without accepting free movement of people. Given that Leave campaigners have committed to ending free movement completely and to ending all budget contributions, they would therefore be unable to retain access to the single market
It may be possible to negotiate a deal with the EU which gives the UK very similar trading arrangements as at present. However it's unlikely that this could involve Britain being IN the Single Market, as this involves all the things the British people voted against.

This was clear during the Referendum campaign, as we have shown above.
[ Sources: Official 'Stronger In' Remain website | Twitter.com ]
   15 Oct 2016
WINNING THE ECONOMIC ARGUMENT
with Facts4EU.org
PART FIVE
The City
THE SINGLE MARKET AND THE CITY OF LONDON
What’s the truth about ‘financial passports’?
Essentially, financial passports allow a financial services firm to trade in another country using an approval from the regulator in their home country. In the case of the UK, this is the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
On 17 Aug the FCA reported the numbers of outgoing passports for UK firms, and the number of incoming passports for EU firms.
  • 5,476  UK firms have a passport to do business in another EU country
  • 8,008  EU firms have a passport to do business in the UK
So that’s 46% more EU firms having UK passports
than UK firms having EU passports.

The EU has recently introduced the concept of 'equivalence' of regulatory regimes in other countries and new permissions will come into force on 1st Jan 2018, before the UK leaves. With two centuries as the most innovative financial market in the World, we fully expect the City will carry on as usual, using its customary ingenuity.
   15 Oct 2016
WINNING THE ECONOMIC ARGUMENT
with Facts4EU.org
PART SIX
OECD 2016 Report on EU and Single Market
OECD REPORT SLAMS SINGLE MARKET
Largely unreported, the OECD produced an 86-page damning 2016 assessment of the EU's SINGLE MARKET
In June we analysed this devastating 86-page OECD report in detail, to summarise it for campaigners and voters. We have updated this to highlight the Single Market.
We think it sheds a completely different light on the whole question of the UK's access to the Single Market post-Brexit.

This is definitely recommended reading for all international foreign exchange dealers, as well as the anti-democratic Brexit-deniers in Parliament and elsewhere.
A summary, details, and graphs are all below.
You may never look at the Single Market the same way again.
   15 Oct 2016
WINNING THE ECONOMIC ARGUMENT
with Facts4EU.org
PART SEVEN
OECD 2016 says Single Market 'unfinished and stalled'
SUMMARY OF SINGLE MARKET'S FAILURE, BY OECD
KEY FINDINGS:
  • EU Single Market remains ‘unfinished and stalled’ after 25 years
  • Goods market ‘far from fully integrated’, services market far worse
  • ‘Unjustified and disproportionate requirements’ for services (80% of UK economy)
  • Services growth in last 3 years only 0.1% of EU GDP
  • Single Market suffers from high level of regulation
  • EU’s promises to reduce excessive regulations ‘remain to be implemented’
  • Single Market isn’t ‘single’ – big variations by country
  • Poverty increasing across EU
  • EU GDP projected to fall this year
Details and graphs are shown below.
   15 Oct 2016
WINNING THE ECONOMIC ARGUMENT
with Facts4EU.org
PART EIGHT
OECD 2016 Report: Single Market has created major regulatory burdens
THE SINGLE MARKET AND BUSINESS PREVENTION
OECD report shows Single Market causes major business regulation burden for UK
OECD REPORTS THAT :-
  • ‘Unnecessary costs of regulation hamper the Single Market’
  • Digital economy hampered by national regulations
  • Single Market regulations in EU are 2.5 times those in UK for energy, transport, communications
  • Very high regulation barriers in services (80% of UK economy)
  • EU’s promises to fix all this ‘remain to be implemented’
Does this sound like an EU Single Market
which the UK can’t afford to leave?
   15 Oct 2016
WINNING THE ECONOMIC ARGUMENT
with Facts4EU.org
PART NINE
OECD 2016 Report: Single Market has created poverty
THE SINGLE MARKET AND POVERTY
OECD says poverty fell in UK and rose in the EU, 2008-2014
OECD REPORTS THAT:-
  • UK’s poverty rate declined by -0.5%. EU’s rose by +0.8%
  • Unemployment still high in EU, widespread across euro area
  • Challenges for economies and on quality of life of EU citizens
  • Estimates of structural unemployment have risen
  • Deep cuts to unemployment benefits in affected countries
Does this sound like an EU Single Market
which Remain says we can’t afford to leave?
   15 Oct 2016
WINNING THE ECONOMIC ARGUMENT
with Facts4EU.org
PART TEN
No obvious effect on UK growth from EU Membership

THE EU'S SINGLE MARKET IS FAILING FAST
Here's the EU's share of the World market
And here's what the rest of the World has been doing

FINALLY A REMINDER...
IF THE SINGLE MARKET IS SO ESSENTIAL
Why has there been no obvious growth effect for the UK?
CONCLUSION

On leaving, the UK will wish to continue trading with the remaining EU27.

All the product and services regulations are already in place so if it wants to, the EU can simply maintain the status quo and continue to sell the UK £87 billion per year more than the UK sells to the EU.

We showed above how in June the OECD - strongly pro-Remain - described the Single Market as 'unfinished and stalled'.

We showed how the costs outweigh the benefits, according to the EU itself.

We have also showed that, in effect, the Single Market is the EU, contained in over 31,000 EU legal documents and treaties.

Over the years the EU has regularly made claims that the full implementation of the Single Market will produce an uplift in GDP of 4.5 - 6%.
In almost 25 years, this has never materialised.

Following Brexit, let's trade with the EU by all means, but let's not pretend that the Single Market isn't simply part of the EU's failed political project.

The future for the UK looks a whole lot brighter when the shackles are off and it can trade successfully with the rest of the World again.

BREXIT: Making Britain Wealthier and More Successful Again
[Sources: Office of National Statistics | IMF World Economic Outlook Database ]
Facts4EU.Org      15 Oct 2016
 


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