UK will get no special treatment from EU, European ministers say

The UK will get no special treatment in its future economic relationship with the EU, European ministers have said, in a further blow to Keir Starmer’s hopes of negotiating a single market for goods. The EU’s ministers for Europe , who met on Tuesday, said they wanted deeper cooperation with the UK, but this had to be in line with fundamental principles, including no cherrypicking of EU policies, according to three diplomatic sources, who spoke about the private discussions. The Guardian revealed last week that the government had pitched the creation of a single market for goods between the UK and EU to Brussels , but the proposal was rejected by EU officials. A single market for goods, long hinted by the prime minister and chancellor Rachel Reeves , would be a radical departure for the EU. Since the Brexit vote nearly a decade ago EU leaders have said that the single market encompasses four freedoms: free movement of goods, services, capital and people. Europe ministers had no appetite for the British proposal of free movement of goods only, although the idea was only briefly mentioned at Tuesday’s meeting, EU sources said. “Member states reaffirmed the established legal framework underpinning the relationship and negotiations, with continued emphasis on the indivisibility of the four freedoms, balance of right and obligations, autonomy of EU decision making and the avoidance of cherrypicking,” an EU diplomat said. …