https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/oct/21/brexit-premier-league-side-wanting-to-be-relegated-wto-internal-marketThe propagation and membership of the internal/single market was considered by former Tory chancellor Kenneth Clarke to be Margaret Thatcher’s greatest achievement.
The idea of trying to set up new trade agreements in a world that is going protectionist fast is for the birds
But, thanks to the trade agreements the EU has with a fair proportion of the rest of the world, as the Office for Budget Responsibility reminds us in its Discussion Paper No 3, “when added to the 49% share of UK trade accounted for by members of the EU, altogether [existing] trade agreements reduce or eliminate tariffs for around 66% of UK trade.”
The idea of crashing out of the EU and trying to set up new trade agreements from scratch in a world that is going protectionist fast is, or ought to be, for the birds.