Former BoE Governor Says Single Market Doesn’t Mesh With Brexit

A former governor of the Bank of England called on Britain to stop thinking Brexit meshes with staying in the European Union’s single market and argued there are opportunities by leaving the EU.

According to a report by Reuters, former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King, who oversaw the U.K.’s monetary policy for a decade until 2013, said the U.K. should make its own decisions when it comes to immigration policy and that Britain’s should look at Brexit with more self-confidence then either side is viewing it.

“I don’t think it makes sense for us to pretend that we should remain in the single market, and I think there are real question marks about whether we should stay in the customs union,” King said, according to the report. Reuters noted that the majority of mainstream economists think Britain should remain part of the single market in which goods and services trade tariff-free. EU politicians have said, in order to access the single market, there has to be free movement of the citizens in the EU.

“I think the referendum made it clear that people wanted control over immigration … that is not negotiable, and it would be a big mistake to put it into the basket of things that we have to negotiate with former partners in the EU,” King said, reported Reuters.

Months after the historic vote to exit the EU, U.K. politicians are working on the transition with British Prime Minister Theresa May saying recently she will start the exit from the EU by March 30. Reuters noted there has been little detail as to what the trading relationships the U.K. forges will look like once it is no longer part of the EU.