Britain will leave the the European Economic Area (EEA), or Single Market, after Brexit, a cabinet minister says, seemingly putting an end to one of the most heated debates surrounding the country’s withdrawal from the EU.
Tony Walker, a junior Brexit minister, said that the UK’s membership would “automatically” end after leaving the EU, The Sun reported Thursday.
“As the UK is party to the EEA agreement only in its capacity as an EU member state, once we leave the European Union the EEA agreement will automatically cease to apply to the UK,” he said.
According to the report, this is the first time that a government minister publicly confirms Britain’s divorce from the single market, which allows countries around Europe to trade across borders as easily as they do within their own country.
Retaining access to the single market has been one of the major worries for UK businesses ever since the country voted to leave the EU in a referendum…