AS the government moves forward with Brexit, to the great annoyance of Merkel and Hollande, there may be bumps in the road, but credit is due to Theresa May for her firm statement on invoking Article 50 by March next year, and on refusing to compromise on immigration.
But the Prime Minister (who voted Remain) would never have made that speech, without all the work that UKIP has done over the years. It would have been nice also, to hear a similarly forthright commitment from her on our fisheries.
As we approach the substantive negotiations on Brexit, there are three things UKIP would like our politicians and the media to remember.
They all talk about access to the Single Market, and forget that every country in the world has access to the Single Market, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
We are constantly told that free trade requires free movement. It does not. The EU has free trade agreements with dozens of countries, and is negotiating more. Apart from the special cases of Switzerland and Norway (who effectively have quasi-membership of the EU), none of those agreements includes free movement. And Brussels would have refused free movement if the other parties had asked for it.
We have a hugely strong negotiating position. We are the EU’s largest external customer bar none. We are not going cap-in-hand to Brussels asking for favours. But we are prepared to offer Brussels free and fair access to our vital market provided we can do so on reciprocal terms.
UKIP is not begging for a deal. We are offering Brussels the opportunity to negotiate terms to protect the EU’s but mainly, the UK’s own interests.
TONY MOLLAND
Former chairman
Devizes Constituency UKIP 
Association