David Davis: UK may pay for access to EU single market

The UK would consider making payments to the EU after it leaves the bloc to secure the best possible access to the EU single market, Brexit Secretary David Davis has said.
Mr Davis told MPs the "major criterion" was getting the best access for goods and services to the European market.
"And if that is included... then of course we would consider it."
But Brexit-backing Tory Peter Bone said "people would be absolutely outraged" if the UK continued to pay the EU.
During his regular session facing MPs in the Commons, Mr Davis was asked a number of questions about the shape of the future Brexit deal, including one from Labour MP Wayne David, who said: "Will the government consider making any contribution in any shape or form for access to the single market?"
Mr Davis replied: "The major criterion here is that we get the best possible access for goods and services to the European market - and if that is included in what you are talking about, then of course we will consider it."
His comments prompted sterling to rise by 1% to $1.26 against the dollar.
But Mr Bone told the BBC: "People will be absolutely outraged if we came out of the EU and then carried on paying them £15bn a year, £20bn a year, whatever the figure is - no I don't think it's going to happen. In that very hypothetical case people will be exceptionally upset about it. But it's just not going to happen."
However, Chancellor Philip Hammond backed Mr Davis, saying: "You can't go into any negotiation expecting to get every single objective that you set out with and concede nothing along the way - it will have to be a deal that works for both sides.
"I think David Davis is absolutely right not to rule out the possibility that we might want to contribute in some way to some form of mechanism."
But prominent Leave campaigner and former Conservative cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith played down the implications of Mr Davis' comments, saying he had been simply not ruling anything in or out of the government's Brexit negotiations.
"I don't think there's any way in which you can reach a deal where you can say 'I'll pay some money in and therefore you allow us access' because you might as well have tariff barriers," he told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme.
'Strange' negotiations
And Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was sceptical about Mr Davis's suggestion. "The idea of paying for access? I'm not really sure what that means," he said.
"If Europe puts tariff barriers against products coming from Britain, the government's going to pay all the tariffs - that sounds a very strange way of entering the negotiations when you're trying to get market access both ways... It doesn't sound a very well thought-out policy."
But pro-Remain former minister Sir Oliver Letwin welcomed the idea.
"It's very sensible to try to make sure that we can go on selling, for example, stocks and bonds and insurance products from the City of London which is dominant in Europe to the rest of Europe - and we'll have to find some way of going on doing that when we leave the EU," he told BBC Radio 4's World at One.
"And if that involves a contribution to EU funds - if it's not too great a contribution - it may well be worth paying."

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The prime minister's spokeswoman said the Brexit secretary had only been repeating government policy on leaving the EU.
"What he said in the House this morning is consistent with what we have said ... that it will be for the UK government to make decisions on how taxpayers' money will be spent," she said.
"As we approach these negotiations we want to get the best possible access for British business to trade with, and operate within, the single market, while also taking back control of immigration. We are now doing the work to prepare for those negotiations."
Also during the morning Commons exchanges Hilary Benn, the Labour chairman of the Commons Brexit Committee, urged the government to publish details of its negotiating plans, claiming MPs were "fed up" at the lack of detail.
Mr Davis argued that "the probable success of the negotiations depend very greatly on us being able to manage the information and keep what needs to be secret until the last minute secret".
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron accused the government of "sending mixed signals" and of being "in an absolute mess".
Urging a vote on any future Brexit deal, he added: "How can the government claim they have a mandate for their Brexit deal when they don't even know what it is themselves?"


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Media captionIain Duncan Smith tells The World At One that paying for single market access would be the same as tariffs
During his Commons appearance, Mr Davis confirmed that Article 50, which sparks the formal legal process for leaving the EU, would be triggered by 31 March, 2017.
The government is seeking "a smooth and orderly exit" from the EU, he said, adding: "It would not be in the interests of either side, Britain or the European Union, to see disruption," he said.
"To that end, we're examining all possible options, focusing on the mutual interests of the UK and the European Union."
The Brexit secretary also defended Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who according to Sky News had privately told four EU ambassadors he backed free movement.
Mr Davis said the comments were "at odds" with what he knew of Mr Johnson's views.
'Kiss of death'
"He believes very clearly - and he made this very clear in the Leave campaign because he was a much more major part of it than I was. - that some immigration is useful. We all agree on that," he said.
"That's not the same as thinking free movement of people as it now stands is a good idea. It's a problem."
And speaking from Rome, Mr Johnson insisted he had told the ambassadors during a breakfast meeting "that immigration had been a good thing for the UK in many respects - but it had got out of control and that we needed to take back control. I think you will find the record reflects that".
Meanwhile in the House of Lords, Labour's Lord Liddle, a former adviser to Tony Blair, called for Britain to remain in the European single market after Brexit.
Opening a debate on the UK's future relationship with the EU, Lord Liddle branded Brexit the "worst disaster for the UK since appeasement" in the 1930s.
Plaid Cymru's Lord Wigley urged the government not to take the UK out of the single market which, he said, would be "the kiss of death" for farmers in Wales.
Independent crossbencher Lord Ricketts, former head of the diplomatic service and ex-ambassador to France, said the mood in Europe was not to "punish" the UK but of "great sadness that a country that has done so much for peace and prosperity on the continent should be turning its back on this project at a time of such turbulence and danger in the world".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38168942

We're leaving the eu...

The eu is all about the 'single market' and us paying billions of £ a year to be in it... isn't it...?


We have voted to leave this...!!!

I told you so doesn't even begin to cover it lol

No... you misunderstand... we have voted to leave this... and this is what we are leaving.

No, it's really not, David Davis who is supposed to be administering Brexit said:

The UK would consider making payments to the EU after it leaves the bloc to secure the best possible access to the EU single market

Tommy Monk wrote:No... you misunderstand... we have voted to leave this... and this is what we are leaving.

Umm no you voted to be Isolated, non-profitable and Obsolete

which makes you fair game for big business.

THOSE pro-Brexit spruikers who dream of Britain 'again' flying high, and somehow attaining some imagined former "Great"ness, simply as a result of cutting their ties to Continental Europe,  really should do their homework before spouting their UKIP-inspired sheeple bleatings...

Like, for example, having a look at how far they have depleted their domestic natural resources over the last two thousand years, (hence,  the need for their incursions into Africa, North America, China, India and Australasia over the past four centuries..).

How, exactly, does either paying tariffs and levies into the EU after their separation, or alternatively importing goods over far greater distances, help to enrich the UK economy ?        

Tommy Monk wrote:

We're leaving the eu...

The eu is all about the 'single market' and us paying billions of £ a year to be in it... isn't it...?


We have voted to leave this...!!!

No, you voted to advise Parliament to think about leaving the UK. You were just too excited to stop and read the fine print

Bae the Cray wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:

We're leaving the eu...

The eu is all about the 'single market' and us paying billions of £ a year to be in it... isn't it...?


We have voted to leave this...!!!

No, you voted to advise Parliament to think about leaving the UK. You were just too excited to stop and read the fine print

Well I don't think that funny, or fair, and neither would you if you lived here and despite what anyone thinks or admits to, no body I know or have met was aware of this small print.

Our voting cards said different.

Our Voting cards said briefly, do you want to stay in the EU,

YES or NO,. AND THAT WAS IT, SIMPLES.

Our Voting cards said briefly, do you want to stay in the EU,

YES or NO,. AND THAT WAS IT, SIMPLES.

fCUKING LAPTOP, I'LL GET A NEW ONE, CAN WE HAVE A WHIP ROUND?

eddie wrote:

Bae the Cray wrote:

No, you voted to advise Parliament to think about leaving the UK. You were just too excited to stop and read the fine print

Well I don't think that funny, or fair, and neither would you if you lived here and despite what anyone thinks or admits to, no body I know or have met was aware of this small print.

Our voting cards said different.

And in the run up to the referendum vote, the govt sent out an information booklet to every household, setting out the details of what the vote was all about and what the govt would do if the result was to leave the eu...

This is what the govt promised, in writing, to the British electorate...


A once in a generation decision

The referendum on Thursday, 23 June is your chance to decide if we should remain in or leave the European Union.

This is your decision. The government will implement what you decide.


http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160815143715/https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/why-the-government-believes-that-voting-to-remain-in-the-european-union-is-the-best-decision-for-the-uk/why-the-government-believes-that-voting-to-remain-in-the-european-union-is-the-best-decision-for-the-uk

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3995248/New-Lib-Dem-MP-Sarah-Olney-elected-wave-anti-Brexit-feeling-WALKS-interview-failing-answer-questions-EU.html

We were given a form with 2 boxes, one said YES and one said NO.
The question was basicly, do you want to stay in the EU, or do you want to leave. Tick the one you want, there was no other information. So it was YES or NO, THE NO'S HAD IT. You can't have it any plainer So except it !

Bae the Cray wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:

We're leaving the eu...

The eu is all about the 'single market' and us paying billions of £ a year to be in it... isn't it...?


We have voted to leave this...!!!

No, you voted to advise Parliament to think about leaving the UK. You were just too excited to stop and read the fine print

We voted to leave the EU that's unequivocal, any attempt at ambiguity on this will be dismissed and any attempt to stall on the process could cause a general resentment possibly leading to civil unrest.

Ben, did you NOT read my post? or did you choose to ignore it?

Tommy Monk wrote:

We're leaving the eu...

The eu is all about the 'single market' and us paying billions of £ a year to be in it... isn't it...?


We have voted to leave this...!!!

There are lots of options on the table, nothing can be discounted And no one knows for sure how this will go.  
A soft brexit looks like a distinct possibility atm.

I don't think some have grasped the OP.   David Davis was one of the leading lights for Brexit.   He is one of the people tasked with taking us out, and he has acknowledged that we need to stay in the single market and if we leave the EU, WE WILL HAVE TO PAY TO STAY IN IT.

The point being, the actual ramifications of leaving the EU, what it involved and the plan for leaving was never put to the electorate, so when they voted leave, they voted with absolutely no knowledge of how we would leave and what it would entail.

sassy wrote:I don't think some have grasped the OP.   David Davis was one of the leading lights for Brexit.   He is one of the people tasked with taking us out, and he has acknowledged that we need to stay in the single market and if we leave the EU, WE WILL HAVE TO PAY TO STAY IN IT.

The point being, the actual ramifications of leaving the EU, what it involved and the plan for leaving was never put to the electorate, so when they voted leave, they voted with absolutely no knowledge of how we would leave and what it would entail.

No... we don't have to be IN the eu/single market to have access to trade with the eu/single market...


And your second point is rubbish... everyone knows what leaving the eu means...!

Tommy Monk wrote:

sassy wrote:I don't think some have grasped the OP.   David Davis was one of the leading lights for Brexit.   He is one of the people tasked with taking us out, and he has acknowledged that we need to stay in the single market and if we leave the EU, WE WILL HAVE TO PAY TO STAY IN IT.

The point being, the actual ramifications of leaving the EU, what it involved and the plan for leaving was never put to the electorate, so when they voted leave, they voted with absolutely no knowledge of how we would leave and what it would entail.

No... we don't have to be IN the eu/single market to have access to trade with the eu/single market...


And your second point is rubbish... everyone knows what leaving the eu means...!

Every single British and European official asserts that the UK can't trade with the EU single market for free.

They buy more off us than we do off them, WE buy German and French cars,it would stuff their workers if we stopped buying them !

David Davis was a leading light of naff all. Gove, Boris et al zoomed around the UK making grand statements because not for a second did they think the vote would be leave.
The Government didn't think the vote would be leave, so they did no preparation. Cameron was banking on winning the day, May was totally anti Brexit but now is quite happy to be the prime minister steering us through Brexit. Hypocritical and self serving? You bet.

We had a vote. The vote was simple, in or out, we voted out. The political establishment just got its eye wiped.

Bae the Cray wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:


No... we don't have to be IN the eu/single market to have access to trade with the eu/single market...


And your second point is rubbish... everyone knows what leaving the eu means...!

Every single British and European official asserts that the UK can't trade with the EU single market for free.

When have we ever been able to trade with the eu/single market for free while being in the eu/single market...!?

As this already costs us £billions every year as well as the other huge detrimental costs to national parliamentary sovereignty and us having constitutional control over our country...

We can trade with the eu without being in the eu and even under WTO trade rules it will be a darn sight cheaper for us than it is now... plus we get back control over our country and democracy which is priceless!!!

Miffs2 wrote:David Davis was a leading light of naff all. Gove, Boris et al zoomed around the UK making grand statements because not for a second did they think the vote would be leave.
The Government didn't think the vote would be leave, so they did no preparation. Cameron was banking on winning the day, May was totally anti Brexit but now is quite happy to be the prime minister steering us through Brexit. Hypocritical and self serving? You bet.

We had a vote. The vote was simple, in or out, we voted out. The political establishment just got its eye wiped.

I think you'll find that May has always been more critical of the eu in the past... but as minister under Cameron, she was in the position of having to appear to support the govt line of staying in...

Tommy Monk wrote:

Miffs2 wrote:David Davis was a leading light of naff all. Gove, Boris et al zoomed around the UK making grand statements because not for a second did they think the vote would be leave.
The Government didn't think the vote would be leave, so they did no preparation. Cameron was banking on winning the day, May was totally anti Brexit but now is quite happy to be the prime minister steering us through Brexit. Hypocritical and self serving? You bet.

We had a vote. The vote was simple, in or out, we voted out. The political establishment just got its eye wiped.

I think you'll find that May has always been more critical of the eu in the past... but as minister under Cameron, she was in the position of having to appear to support the govt line of staying in...

Did she though Tommy? Thought they were allowed to choose for themselves on this one?

sassy wrote:I don't think some have grasped the OP.   David Davis was one of the leading lights for Brexit.   He is one of the people tasked with taking us out, and he has acknowledged that we need to stay in the single market and if we leave the EU, WE WILL HAVE TO PAY TO STAY IN IT.

The point being, the actual ramifications of leaving the EU, what it involved and the plan for leaving was never put to the electorate, so when they voted leave, they voted with absolutely no knowledge of how we would leave and what it would entail.

They (the people in favour of Brexit) had no plan for leaving because i don't believe they thought it would ever happen.

Miffs2 wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:


I think you'll find that May has always been more critical of the eu in the past... but as minister under Cameron, she was in the position of having to appear to support the govt line of staying in...

Did she though Tommy? Thought they were allowed to choose for themselves on this one?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-referendum-theresa-may-could-lead-out-campaign-after-nigel-farage-says-hed-be-delighted-if-she-a6717291.html