A cabinet minister has warned he would not support a closer, Swiss-style relationship with the European Union after reports emerged that the government was considering the idea.
Steve Barclay, the health secretary, instead suggested ministers should focus on maximising what he said were the opportunities of Brexit.
But Mr Barclay, who campaigned for Brexit, was forced to concede that there have been “difficulties” with trade since the UK left the EU.
The idea of a Swiss-style deal with the EU prompted fury among Tory Brexiteers.
Lord Frost, the former chief Brexit negotiator, said that if the reports were correct he hoped “the government thinks better of these plans, fast”. Simon Clarke, the former levelling up secretary, said: “We settled the question of leaving the European Union, definitively, in 2019.”
Former work and pensions secretary Chloe Smith also criticised the Swiss model. “I don’t think that would be a particularly wise path at this time,” she told Times Radio. She said she believed that “Conservatives over recent years [have] delivered the results of the referendum. We got Brexit done.”
Asked about reports that plans for more frictionless trade with Europe required moving to a Swiss model over the next decade, Mr Barclay said: “Well, I didn’t support that. I want to maximise the opportunities that Brexit offers.”
He told the Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme on Sky News: “We’ve got a prime minister who himself supported Brexit. I myself did and was Brexit secretary, and worked very hard to maximise our control of our laws, our borders and our money.
“So it’s absolutely important, particularly in those high-growth sectors, such as financial services, life sciences and the green industries, that we really use the Brexit freedoms we have.” He added that he did not “recognise” the reports.
Issues around trade had to be looked at in the round, Mr Barclay said.
“There are areas where there have been difficulties in terms of greater friction and we’re looking to work constructively with EU partners on that. But, equally, there are very significant opportunities as a result of Brexit.
“I don’t think we would have done the vaccine rollout in the way that we did had we remained a member of the EU, and [there are] the significant regulatory opportunities we have. The autumn statement signalled our determination to take those,” he said.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth told Sky News that Labour would not seek to adopt Swiss-style arrangements nor rejoin the EU single market.
He said: “We’re not proposing returning to the single market or the customs union, or anything like that.
“But we do want to negotiate a bespoke deal for the United Kingdom, so that our businesses can export, so that we can get those agreements on agriculture, so we can work together on security issues.”
Asked about this issue, Downing Street sources pointed to Mr Barclay’s comment that he did not recognise the reports that ministers wanted to put the UK on a path towards a Swiss-style deal.
Later a spokesperson went further, saying: “These reports are categorically untrue.
“This Government is focused on using our Brexit freedoms to create opportunities that drive growth and strengthen our economy.
“Brexit means we will never again have to accept a relationship with Europe that would see a return to freedom of movement, unnecessary payments to the European Union or jeopardise the full benefit of trade deals we are now able to strike around the world.”
