Starmer opens door to rejoining EU single market

 

Sir Keir Starmer has opened the door to rejoining the EU single market after the next general election.

In an attempt to save his faltering premiership, the Labour leader pledged to put Britain at the heart of Europe and “set a new direction” for the country by renewing ties to Brussels.

Sir Keir suggested in a reset speech that a promise to join the single market or the customs union would be included in a Labour manifesto at the next national poll, expected in 2029.

Challenged on whether he could rule that out, he responded: “I strongly believe we’ve got to turn our back on the arguments of the past – not open old grievances, but look forward together to how we make this country stronger, how we make this country fairer. And so, that’s the approach that I will take.”

The Prime Minister previously said joining the single market or customs union and restoring freedom of movement were “red lines” of Brexit that he would not cross.

Sir Keir is fighting for his political life after more than 40 Labour MPs demanded his resignation in the wake of the election bloodbath in England, Scotland and Wales.

We ‘made mistakes’

Elsewhere in his speech at a London community centre on Monday, the Prime Minister said he took responsibility for Labour’s disastrous results but refused to stand down, and pledged to prove his doubters wrong.

Despite admitting that his Government had “made mistakes”, Sir Keir insisted that he had “got the big political choices right”.

He previously said that he wanted to govern for a decade and would lead his party into the next general election.

Sir Keir also criticised Nigel Farage, calling him a “grifter” and a “chancer” after Reform UK made stunning gains at the local elections, largely at the expense of Labour and the Tories.

The Prime Minister said: “I want to remind you what Nigel Farage said about Brexit. He said it would make us richer. Wrong, it made us poorer. He said it would reduce migration. Wrong, migration went through the roof. He said it would make us more secure. Wrong again, it made us weaker.

“He took Britain for a ride, and unlike the Tories, actually, who at least had to face up to it, he just fled the scene.”

Sir Keir said that he would use the UK-EU summit later this year to take a “big leap forward” in relations with the bloc, particularly on trade, defence and security.

He added: “That will then be a platform on which we can build as we go forward.”

However, Sir Keir promised in Labour’s manifesto at the 2024 general election that there would be “no return to the single market, the customs union or freedom of movement” if Labour came to power.

On Sunday, Labour MPs who were elected when Sir Keir won back dozens of Red Wall constituencies at the last general election questioned the wisdom of reviving the EU debate.

Jo Platt, the MP for Leigh and Atherton, said: “Going back to the debate of rejoining the EU just drags us back to the old arguments that split communities in half in the first place.”

Reform won scores of seats in the Red Wall at the local elections last week, including Barnsley, Wakefield, Sunderland and Gateshead. Across the country the party gained 1,300 councillors and won control of 14 authorities, from Sunderland and St Helens to Suffolk and Essex.

Writing for The Times, Mr Farage said that disillusioned voters had flocked to Reform because Labour was “led by an inane Prime Minister who constantly insists on drawing us back closer to the European Union”.

“Quite rightly, they see that as a complete betrayal of their Brexit vote in 2016,” he added.

Pressed on whether pursuing closer ties with Europe was the right approach to winning back voters from Reform, Sir Keir said Mr Farage’s Brexit promises “all proved to be false”.

“It didn’t help working people. It turned out what he said wasn’t true. That’s why he doesn’t want to talk about it now. But we have to talk about it now because we have to address the situation we’re in.”