European Union ministers have firmly rejected British hopes of securing preferential access to the single market, reiterating that the bloc's four core freedoms — the free movement of goods, services, capital, and people — are indivisible. The UK, under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, had proposed a standalone goods-only single market arrangement with the EU, but the idea was rebuffed by EU officials and received little support at a meeting of Europe ministers on Tuesday. The rejection complicates Starmer's broader effort to reset UK-EU relations, with one EU diplomat warning that Britain's "red lines are increasingly constraining progress" ahead of a tentative bilateral summit scheduled for 13 July.