UK can avoid euro but must accept free movement to rejoin EU, says former top Brexit negotiator – UK politics live

Michel Barnier says Britain could avoid having to join the single currency, but free movement is non-negotiableYesterday the pro-Brexit Guido Fawkes website published a list of items that it said could be banned as a result of Andy Burnham’s reset with the EU. It was based on items that have been banned under EU regulations passed since the UK left. Under the deal on food exports that has been agreed (but not yet published), the UK will have to align with EU sanitary and phytosanitary rules. And any further move to bring the UK closer to the EU could result in further regulatory alignment.One of the items on the Guido Fawkes list was smoky bacon flavouring in crisps.Oh, Stig. I mean, really, we’ve had EU straight bananas, and now we’re talking about banning smoky bacon crisps. I think you should get a life.This is actually about ensuring that we can do business with our closest neighbours.The transition is a balance between getting and accessing those benefits as quickly as possible, but dealing with some of the transitional issues that you have to deal with whenever you’re moving from one system to another. Continue reading...