Leaving the European Union: The Single Market, the Rights of EU Citizens in the UK and the UK’s Future Economic Requirements

The European single market is an internal market which currently encompasses all 28 EU member states. A number of other European countries outside the EU also participate in the single market, such as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, who are parties to the European Economic Area agreement, and Switzerland, which has a number of bilateral agreements with the EU. The UK joined the then European Economic Community in 1973, with the single market as it exists today being established in 1992. The single market provides for the ‘four freedoms’ within the EU: the freedom of movement for goods, services, capital and people. In a speech on 17 January 2017, the Prime Minister confirmed that the Government, in negotiating the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, would seek a bespoke model for future UK-EU relations. As part of this, Mrs May announced that the UK would not retain its membership of the single market. She said that the Government would seek to protect the rights of EU citizens living in the UK on the basis that the same rights were afforded to UK citizens living in EU countries. This briefing explores the possible impact on the rights of EU citizens living in the UK following the Prime Minister’s announcement that the UK will not retain its membership of the single market on its withdrawal from the EU. It focuses on the current and future legal status of non-UK EU citizens in the UK and considers the possible effects of withdrawing from the single market on the UK’s labour force. In the context of the UK’s future economic requirements, the briefing concludes with an examination of the possible implications of leaving the EU for UK economy, trade and financial services.