A senior Conservative MP has called on the Boris Johnson government to return the UK to the EU’s single market to help alleviate the cost of living crisis.
Tobias Eloud, chairman of the elected defense committee, said Brexit had left British business “suffocated” by bureaucracy – insisting it was time to “think outside the box”.
The leading Tory MP called on the government to reconsider building Norwegian-style relations with the EU, allowing access to the single market through the European Economic Area (EEA).
Writing in The House magazine, Mr Elwood said the move would remove post-Brexit documents costing companies £ 7bn and help ease inflationary pressures on families in dire straits.
“Sector after sector is being stifled by the bureaucracy we had to run away from,” the Tory MP said, arguing that Brexit had not turned out to be “what most people imagined”.
Speaking on his proposal to the Radio Times on Thursday, Mr Elwood said: “I dare to think outside the box … this is what we need to do now, given the economic situation we are facing.
He added: “This will strengthen our economy because it will cut so much red tape, alleviate the cost of living crisis and, in fact, resolve the difficult Irish issue of the Northern Ireland Protocol.”
But David Frost, a former Brexit-10 negotiator, condemned Mr Elwood’s surprise call. The hardliner said Mr Elwood’s intervention “shows that Brexit is not really safe in the hands of him or his allies”.
Tory senior Mark Harper also dismissed the idea, tweeting, “No. The United Kingdom has voted to leave the EU. This meant leaving the single market and ending freedom of movement. The end. “
Labor has sought to avoid talking about Brexit, given that the issue has caused significant electoral problems for the party in much of the country.
But backstage MP Stella Crisis, chair of the Workers’ Movement for Europe, praised Mr Elwood for the “speech”, adding: “In the name of jobs, peace and equality, the United Kingdom must discuss its future with Europe”.
Finance Minister Simon Clark said he was “pleased to assure” Mr Elwood that Britain would not rejoin the single market – saying the move would “destroy half of the freedoms that make Brexit so important”.
Mr Elwood acknowledged that being in the single market would mean agreeing to freedom of movement – something many Tory MPs were determined to avoid in the years leading up to the final Brexit agreement.
But the senior Tory said that as part of the EU’s Dublin Convention, it could lead to better co-operation with other close neighbors when it comes to asylum seekers.
Mr Eloud also said that re-joining the single market would strengthen the UK’s “European powers” at a time of greater threat from Russia, as well as bring Britain closer to the United States.
He asked, “Wouldn’t it be rude for us not to think with our heads, not to do math, and ask ourselves if this is economically in the nation’s interest?”
James Withers, head of Scotland Food and Drink, said Mr Elwood’s intervention was “a timely, welcome reminder that Brexit is feasible without shooting at both feet”.
But he said the noise from his proposal was “a sign of how much we have lost in the battle between ideology and sound government”.
Mr Elwood, meanwhile, called for “courtesy” in the Tory party as it struggles with the issue of leadership, as he confirmed that he had sent a letter of no confidence to Mr Johnson months ago.
Asked about briefings by the prime minister’s allies against the rebels, he told Times Radio: “I am worried about the language currently used. I’m worried about where [the debate] is descending. The party itself must work together, no matter what happens. “
He added: “But you can’t get away from the fact that there are real concerns [about Johnson’s leadership]. This is reflected in the poll, the local elections and, no doubt, in the by-elections. And these issues need to be addressed. “
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