European Union (Amendment) Bill

One of the problems is that although many of us agreed with the initial concept of the single market—to remove tariff barriers and to have mutual recognition of goods and services—the welter of regulation introduced to bring about total harmonisation throughout the EU has been used as an anti-competitive device within the EU. As a former Minister who had to deal with the food and drinks industry, I know that every time a small British company such as a soya milk or mineral water manufacturer started to gain market share, their competitors within the EU used the single market to see them off.