There is a way to limit Brexit damage – rejoin the single market | Letters

Michael Gold makes the case for membership of the European Economic Area, Simon Price outlines our slow economic decline after leaving the EU, and Dr David Mathieson urges Labour to rethink its policy

Anand Menon rightly points out that the disastrous effects of Brexit on trade, tax rises and growth are now becoming apparent (Covid has been an easy scapegoat for economic disruption, but Brexit is biting, 31 January). He's right, too, to note that Covid has become an easy scapegoat for economic disruption. However, the political realignment also brought about by Brexit seems to offer little chance for reopening the process of rejoining the EU, given that it resulted from a referendum whose legitimacy we all have to accept, however reluctantly.

Membership of the European Economic Area could be the answer. Nothing on the referendum voting slip committed us to the hard Brexit to which we find ourselves condemned. Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are also outside the EU, but covered by the EEA agreement that guarantees their compliance with EU legislation on the single European market, competition and employment rights. Prof Menon observes that 57% of Britons now think the government is handling Brexit badly, so surely they too will increasingly want to find a way through. EEA membership would allow us to remain outside the EU while regaining some of the practical advantages of EU membership. It would also put us in a stronger position to rejoin the EU if and when the electorate so decided.
Michael Gold
Emeritus professor of comparative employment relations, Royal Holloway, University of London