Britain Must Remain in the Single Market or Risk Financial Destitution - IFS

Economist, Ian Mitchell, from the IFS said that membership is likely to offer significant economic benefits, mainly for trade in services.

"Relative to just relying on world trade organization rules, one of the economic benefits could be a difference of 4 percent on GDP and that's based on economic studies.

"If the UK can agree a trade agreement with the EU then it will be somewhat less than that," Mr Mitchell told Sputnik.

​When looking at the worst case scenario and if Britain didn't remain in the single market, Mr Mitchell said that it could impact consumer living and increase cost of goods.

"Economically speaking relying only on world trading rules would create difficulty and consumers would face higher prices and lower living standards and if we didn't, it would be hard for the UK to trade with certain regions and emerging countries," Mr Mitchel told Sputnik.

​The IFS acknowledged that staying in the single market may come at the cost of continuing to contribute to the EU Budget and accepting future regulations designed in the EU. However, it said the financial benefits are real and, at the moment at least, likely to outweigh the financial costs.

"We will have access to the single market and the only model we can use is the Europe economic area and that involves accepting budget contribution and free movement of labor."

​"So, the likelihood of us remaining in the single market depends on whether we can have free movement and there is a mandate for taking control of immigration policy, if that can be flexed, the benefits would outweigh anything else," Mr Mitchel told Sputnik.