The UK should make a clean break with the EU and avoid a ‘soft’ Brexit, according to Andrew Swaffield, Monarch Group chief executive.
Swaffield said the UK “must leave properly” and not seek to stay in the single market or prioritise the rights of UK airlines to fly between EU member states. The Monarch chief told a Travel Weekly Business Breakfast:
“I wanted us to stay in, which was my vote, or get out – not end up under the rule of the EU without any influence.
“Now that we’ve voted to leave, we must leave properly – get out, forge our own way, and create new partnerships with Europe.
“If we decide we must stay in the single market and have everything we had before, we’re going to end up in the middle ground. We won’t be members, but we’ll have to apply all the rules. I don’t think that is a good place.
“We’re a big enough economy not to be a Norway, and we don’t have to be a Switzerland.”
Swaffield told the industry audience: “We can negotiate the right to fly without being part of the single market.” He added: “The fundamental need of the UK travel industry is to get people to and from the UK. We should not be overly informed by the need for airlines to be able to fly around Europe – that is not a fundamental need.”
The Monarch chief added: “I want the avoidance of friction. I don’t want people to need visas, to have unnecessary administration or to be queuing at airports. I want a replacement for the European health card [EHIC] system.” But Swaffield warned: “There are going to be years of uncertainty and unexpected consequences.”