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At the heart of Westminster, there lurks a secret. Both Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn want to thwart the moderates in their party who are opposed to a “hard” Brexit. And both have alighted on the same alibi: they claim that since we cannot change the rules governing freedom of movement and stay in the single market, then we have no choice but to leave the single market altogether.
It sounds neat — and democratic. After all, few would disagree that immigration in general, and EU free movement in particular, played a significant role in the EU referendum last year. EU leaders regularly emphasise the importance of the “four freedoms”. And so the logic flows effortlessly: the will of the British public must be obeyed; EU freedom of movement must go; single market membership must be rescinded.
This argument is self-serving nonsense. The leaderships of the two main UK parties — united by Euroscepticism if little else — are wilfully misrepresenting the rules governing free movement within the EU. They claim that it is an unchanging EU principle. It is not. They claim that it cannot be curtailed. It can. They claim that the rest of the bloc will not bend to British demands for change. They already have.
If only Mrs May and Mr Corbyn showed a little more ingenuity, the scope for a breakthrough in the Brexit talks would open up: one in which the UK could remain in the single market but could also secure important changes to freedom of movement.
The right to free movement was originally focused exclusively on people seeking work. It was only in 1990 that the then-European Economic Community introduced a right of movement for pensioners, students and those with independent means, provided that they could support themselves. The Maastricht treaty in 1992 went one step further and introduced the concept of EU “citizenship”. Detailed provisions then ensued to ensure that workers and their families could move between member states without losing their social security entitlements.
So the principle of freedom of movement has evolved over time. It has served Europe’s economies, and especially Britain’s, well. [...]
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