UK proposes single market for goods with EU, gets promptly turned down

Five and a half years after walking out of the EU single market, the UK apparently tried to walk back in through the goods entrance.

Michael Ellam, a senior UK official, presented a proposal for a single market for goods with the European Union during meetings in Brussels in May 2026, according to media reports. EU sources rejected the pitch, instead pointing the UK toward alternatives like a customs union or European Economic Area-style regulatory alignment.

What the UK proposed, and why the EU said no

A single market for goods would, in theory, eliminate the customs checks, regulatory divergences, and trade friction that have plagued UK-EU commerce since the UK formally exited the single market on December 31, 2020.

EU sources reportedly countered with suggestions that the UK consider either a full customs union or an arrangement modeled on the EEA, the framework that countries like Norway use to access the single market while remaining outside the EU itself.