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Comment by d_t_w | Hacker News Reader

Switzerland is a good place to do business in Europe in part because it has access to the internal market.

Access to that common market has, to this point, required a commitment to the Four Freedoms, free movement of goods, services, people, and capital.

Are you suggesting the UK will be able to negotiate access to the common market without acceding to those four freedoms - something which has never happened before and considering the current EU stance of "hurry up and gtfo" seems quite unlikely.

Or are you suggesting the UK will leave Europe, but still allow free movement of people in order to retain access to the common market? Immigration control was given as the second most important factor by those who voted leave, that would be quite some turn-around.

Or, finally, I guess you could be suggesting that Britain will be a good place to do business in Europe without being a part of the common market.

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So Boris has laid out his platform, and he has chosen option one, he claims Britain will retain access to the internal market while also putting an Australian style points based immigration system in place.

He also claims "EU citizens living in this country will have their rights fully protected, and the same goes for British citizens living in the EU", which should worry observers, since he appears to be promising everyone a pony.

My guess is he expects to use the threat of an exit to negotiate some control over migration, and never to trigger article 50.

Is there any appetite for humouring Boris in Europe? Well Germany is, as ever, practically minded. France and others? They seem quite prepared to demand a pound of flesh.

It will be a wonderful magic trick if Boris, as laid out in his platform, can have everything he wants at no cost.

My point is immigration is not an on/off scenario.

The U.K. could easily negotiate a visa for Shenghen area countries with reciprocal rights, at different levels for work or travel or retirement.

And yes, where I think he UK could thrive is by positioning themselves as the place to do business without having to deal with the EU red tape directly. If London based financial services are in the right Timezone etc but are firewalled from EU banks and the ECB, then it can easily grow even more. I was there when the Euro started and it was seen as the beginning of the end, but it has grown a lot since then. I think having an independent central bank and currency has been a boon.

And the international language of business is going to be English for a long time yet.

Essentially, my argument is that any country which lowers the regulatory barriers to business will do better. The U.K. Has a chance to do that and undercut other European countries who will remain bound by the countless EU regs.

The options are pretty clear, but I'm not sure what exactly you are suggesting, is it:

"The UK will be able to negotiate access to the common market without acceding to those four freedoms"

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