UK pitched single market for goods with EU in pursuit of deeper trade ties

UK government sources denied the EU had definitively rejected a single market for goods. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

The UK government pitched the creation of a single market for goods with the EU as the cornerstone of an ambitious attempt to reintegrate British trade back into Europe, the Guardian can reveal.

During recent visits to Brussels, the Cabinet Office’s top official on EU relations, Michael Ellam, presented the idea to deepen the UK’s economic relationship with the bloc.