Perhaps we can have our cake and eat it

Britain may not be able to get access to the single market and control of immigration right now, says Matthew Lynn. But don't count on it staying that way.

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Why choose when maybe you can have both?

There can be no compromise on free movement of workers. The UK can't expect to have its cake and eat it. There can be no "cherry-picking" of the advantages of the single market. The mantra from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and most of the leaders of the EU ever since the UK voted to leave the Union three months ago has been unrelenting. If the UK wants to trade freely with the rest of the continent, it must allow people to move freely as well.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.