The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has spoken, the Japanese government has spoken, and so have many distinguished commentators. Looking at the United Kingdom, they see a country seemingly caught in an agonizing dilemma between a so-called hard Brexit and a soft Brexit, and it worries them deeply.
Put more crudely, they fear that a choice has to be made between, on the one hand, tighter control of the U.K.'s borders against immigrants from the rest of Europe, and on the other, staying in the European Union's single market. They have been told that if the U.K. does not accept free movement of people it will not be allowed to stay in the market. They have further been told that even if there are small changes in immigration laws they will cut the U.K. out of the single market and economic growth will be heavily damaged.
There is just one snag with this whole grim scenario of choice and dilemma — it does not exist. In reality and in practice, there is no absolute and polarized choice between tighter border controls and remaining in the single market, and no impossibly polarized choice between cutting immigration and economic growth.