Hacker News Reader

Britain is certainly not Switzerland.

Source: I'm British.

I'm going to assume you're not British / European, but for the record Switzerland is in Schengen and EFTA, Britain is heading for being in neither.

Britain is already in neither; it's never been in Schengen, and left the EFTA when joining the EEC as the EU was then. Although the other 3 countries in EFTA are part of the EEA (edit: which is how they're part of the single market), Switzerland isn't. Instead, they participate in the single market via a bunch of bilateral treaties:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland%E2%80%93European_U...

I know. That wasn't the point.

> Switzerland isn't in the EU is doing just fine.

That's a bit like saying getting divorced is easy because other people enjoy single life.

Switzerland, having never been in the EU, has long-standing trade/customs/etc. deals in place.

The UK, having been in the EU, now exits without extant trade/etc. deals with anyone, as setting them up on an individual basis while part of the EU wasn't permitted - the EU negotiates them as a single entity.