RE: EU Single Market.

We cannot have free trade with the EU as a bloc, because of the various standards of living within the EU.

If the EU were confined to those countries with a national average wage comparable to ours then, yes, it would be a viable proposition, BUT it includes Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltic States. Their national average wage, being that much lower than ours, means that goods made in those nations will undercut ours. Hence we need taxes on goods from those nations to create a level playing field in trade. But the EU will not allow free trade with Germany and France whilst having tariffs on Bulgaria and Romania.

Had the EU been simply a trading bloc between the UK, France, Germany, Scandinavian and Benelux nations with perhaps Italy and Iberian nations involved, with no open borders, no transnational laws, no waste, no fishing or agricultural quotas then people may have been happy to stay, but it isn't and many who voted to join, have voted to leave an organisation that barely resembles the old EEC.

In short - the EU "did it to themselves".......