LONDON — Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey announced a proposal for the U.K. to rejoin the E.U. single market. The party also plans to advocate for the creation of a new U.K.-E.U. customs union to eliminate trade barriers with Europe.

Davey will propose that the U.K. join the single market through the European Free Trade Association, in an arrangement similar to Norway and Iceland. Accepting a return to the single market would require the U.K. to recognize the free movement of people. Liberal Democrat representatives suggested that the U.K. could negotiate migrant return agreements under the Dublin framework, and stated that the hospitality, agriculture, and social care sectors would benefit from increased labor migration from the E.U.

Davey stated, "They know the hard truth that most politicians won't admit: the Conservatives' Brexit experiment has failed. And it's failed all of us. £90bn a year – that's how much it's costing us all." He added, "Labour's red lines are holding Britain back. They are hurting the British people and they are playing into the hands of Farage and Reform." He said, "So my message to Andy Burnham, to Wes Streeting – to whoever the next prime minister may be – is this: drop those red lines. Drop them now, so we can move on from the torpor and timidity that marks out Labour's approach to Europe so far." The Labour Party pledged in 2024 not to rejoin the E.U., the single market, or the customs union. Keir Starmer confirmed that a second E.U.-U.K. summit is scheduled for 22 July.

E.U. officials indicated they are open to the U.K. joining the European Economic Area but have ruled out a proposal for common goods rules without free movement of people. Former European Council president Charles Michel, who served as Belgium's prime minister during the 2016 Brexit referendum, stated, "If the dream in the U.K. is to build closer ties, but if the consequence is less integrity in the single market, that will not work, because I feel that the single market is not for sale."

No independent assessment of Liberal Democrats’s claims was available.