> Should we agree with the quote or find it wrong in hindsight? What Thatcher was talking about was literally a single market i.e. where one could buy and sell

> Should we agree with the quote or find it wrong in hindsight? What Thatcher was talking about was literally a single market i.e. where one could buy and sell goods without tariff and other protectionist restrictions. What we have now with the EU is most definitely not that. We have free movement of people, a much expanded EU with qualified majority voting, significant social (as against economic) legislation, and the Euro. None of these were really evident in '88 and Thatcher was dead against all of them. Fundamentally, she was a supporter of a wide ranging trade agreement and not very much else. If you read May's bullets, she has non-tariff market access as one of priorities. She is effectively using the term Single Market to a much wider scope than Thatcher but still attempting to keep the basis of what was originally envisioned, at least in the UK, on the table. Can't imagine the EU agreeing to this as it's moved well passed that stage but you never know.