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EU-UK: UK Minister-We Will Not Join Customs Union 'At Present Time'

EU-UK
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Following comments from European Commission Exec VP Maroš Šefčovič suggesting that the UK joining a "pan-European [customs] area is something we could consider", UK Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook has stated "We’re not seeking to participate in that particular arrangement," before adding later on "at the present time". European Relations Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said in the Commons "We are always looking for ways to reduce barriers of trade, but within our manifesto red lines, because we take a pragmatic view as to where the national interest lies. We don't currently have any plans to join PEM, and we are not going to provide a running commentary on every comment that's made."

  • Šefčovič, speaking to the BBC in Davos at the WEF annual meeting, was talking about the mooted idea that the UK could join the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention (PEM, "common rules that allow parts, ingredients and materials for manufacturing supply chains to be sourced from across dozens of countries in Europe and North Africa to be used in tariff-free trade.") rather than the EU's customs union.
  • Recent opinion polling has shown UK respondents broadly in favour of closer economic links with the EU, even if they voted to leave the Union in 2016. A YouGov poll in Dec 2024 "found that 54 percent of those who backed Brexitin 2016would accept the full free movement of people to travel, live and work across EU borders in return for access to the bloc's single market." 
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Following comments from European Commission Exec VP Maroš Šefčovič suggesting that the UK joining a "pan-European [customs] area is something we could consider", UK Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook has stated "We’re not seeking to participate in that particular arrangement," before adding later on "at the present time". European Relations Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said in the Commons "We are always looking for ways to reduce barriers of trade, but within our manifesto red lines, because we take a pragmatic view as to where the national interest lies. We don't currently have any plans to join PEM, and we are not going to provide a running commentary on every comment that's made."

  • Šefčovič, speaking to the BBC in Davos at the WEF annual meeting, was talking about the mooted idea that the UK could join the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention (PEM, "common rules that allow parts, ingredients and materials for manufacturing supply chains to be sourced from across dozens of countries in Europe and North Africa to be used in tariff-free trade.") rather than the EU's customs union.
  • Recent opinion polling has shown UK respondents broadly in favour of closer economic links with the EU, even if they voted to leave the Union in 2016. A YouGov poll in Dec 2024 "found that 54 percent of those who backed Brexitin 2016would accept the full free movement of people to travel, live and work across EU borders in return for access to the bloc's single market."