MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st November, 2022) The United Kingdom is not going to build post-Brexit relations with the European Union modeled on the example of Switzerland, which has maintained access to the common market through a number of trade deals after its withdrawal from the bloc, UK Minister for Immigration Robert Jenrick said on Monday.
On Sunday, The Times reported, citing senior government sources, that the UK cabinet was considering building relations with the EU based on the Swiss model, to relax trade barriers after London and Brussels parted ways in 2020.
"I don't know where the story came from in the Sunday papers. It's not one that we recognise and we're going to stick with the relationship that we've secured," Jenrick told British broadcaster Sky news.
However, the UK is still interested in improving its trade relations, as well as security and migration partnership, with the bloc, the minister added.
"But we're not going to reopen the discussions that we had a few years ago. We have a settled view, and we're moving forwards on that basis," Jenrick said.
Meanwhile, Downing Street sources told the Telegraph that media reports about London mulling Swiss-style ties with Brussels were "categorically untrue," since the country sought to avoid "unnecessary payments" to the EU. In addition, the UK does not want to "jeopardise the full benefit of (the) trade deals" it is now able "to strike around the world," one of the sources was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
A record-high 56% of UK citizens believe that withdrawing from the EU was a mistake, and this includes those who voted pro Brexit in 2016 and have since changed their mind, according to a recent YouGov poll. In comparison, only 32% of respondents still support the withdrawal from the EU, while the remaining 12% are unable to give a definitive answer.
In June 2016, 51.8% of UK citizens voted in favor of terminating the country's membership of the EU, against 48.1% of those who voted for London to stay in the union. On January 31, 2020, the country left the bloc after 47 years of membership. A transition period continued until December 31, 2021, during which the UK was no longer a member of the EU but still a member of EU single market and customs union. London and Brussels managed to negotiate an agreement on trade and cooperation during that period.
