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New TUC report ‘Putting Brexit to the Test’ identifies membership of broader European Economic Area as best current option for working people

The TUC has today (Thursday) published a report that assesses Brexit options against five key tests to make sure Brexit is successful for working people.

Putting Brexit to the Test considers the most commonly proposed Brexit options, including ‘no deal’, different free trade agreements, and remaining in the single market through the broader European Economic Area (EEA).

The report notes that the EEA option could be extended to cover agriculture and food, allowing goods and people to cross the border freely in Northern Ireland and Ireland.

The TUC’s five tests for working people are:

  1. Protecting jobs through frictionless trade in goods and services, so that businesses do not pull out of the UK, and continue to invest here in the creation of high quality jobs.
  2. A level playing field to protect workers’ rights, so that they cannot be downgraded, and keep pace when improvements are made to the rights of workers across the rest of Europe.
  3. Dispute resolution and supervision, so that UK people do not have weaker legal protections for consumer, environmental and labour standards.
  4. Giving workers a say, so that workers’ representatives do not lose the right they currently have in the EU to advise on policy and law relating to workers.
  5. Protecting the Good Friday Agreement, so that the peace and prosperity that trade unions worked to help achieve is not put at risk from a hard border in Ireland.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“We need a Brexit that puts working people first. But ministers are playing Russian roulette with people’s jobs, rights and livelihoods. Instead of sticking rigidly to red lines that rule out the best deal for working people, ministers should go back to the drawing board.

"Membership of the broader European Economic Area would mean we can leave the EU but keep the benefits of the single market. It’s still the only current option we see that passes the tests for working people.

“We’ll listen to other ideas that could meet our tests. But time is running out, and ministers have not yet put forward a realistic alternative.

"The government must keep all options on the table, including remaining in the single market through the EEA. Otherwise Brexit could be a disaster for working people across the UK.”

On Northern Ireland, she added:

“Ministers seem to have washed their hands of responsibility to find a Brexit deal that avoids a hard border. They must ditch this cavalier attitude fast, and start taking the risk of a hard border seriously.

“Membership of the broader European Economic Area would keep goods and people crossing the border freely. So it’s still the only current option we see that can protect the Good Friday Agreement, peace and people’s jobs.”

On rights for working people, she added:

“For rights at work, we must keep a level playing field with the EU. We cannot have a bad deal that leaves workers in Britain stuck as second-class citizens when improvements are made in the rest of Europe.

“Membership of the broader European Economic Area gives us the scope to both protect and build on the rights at work people in Britain have today. Anything less would be a license for a future Conservative government to slash workers’ rights at will.”

ENDS

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