UK's Hunt: We can remove EU trade barriers without re-joining single market

Britain's finance minister Jeremy Hunt said he was confident that most of the trade barriers with the European Union could be removed without re-joining the bloc's single market. "So I think we can find other ways that will more than compensate for those (single market) advantages," he said.

Britain's finance minister Jeremy Hunt said he was confident that most of the trade barriers with the European Union could be removed without re-joining the bloc's single market. "I have great confidence that over the years ahead we will find outside the single market we are able to remove the vast majority of the trade barriers that exist between us and the EU," he told BBC radio on Friday.

He said rejoining the free trade zone would require a return to the EU's freedom of movement policy, something that he said would go against the Brexit vote. "So I think we can find other ways that will more than compensate for those (single market) advantages," he said.