Brexit: Labour will seek re-write of the deal, Starmer says
Sir Keir Starmer has expressed his intention to pursue a “considerably improved” Brexit agreement with the EU in the event that the Labour Party emerges victorious in the upcoming general election.
The opposition leader conveyed this during an address to the Financial Times, asserting that the existing deal, slated for reassessment in 2025, falls short in substance.
Sir Keir made these remarks while participating in a gathering of center-left leaders held in Montreal, Canada. However, he firmly ruled out the prospect of rejoining the customs union, the single market, or reuniting with the EU.
Nevertheless, it remains uncertain whether Brussels would be willing to entertain substantial modifications to the accord originally brokered by former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2021.
Sir Keir has consistently maintained that, if elected, his party would not seek to rejoin the EU but instead focus on “making Brexit successful.” Labour has consistently maintained a significant lead in political opinion polls, and a general election is anticipated sometime in 2024.
“Almost everyone recognizes the deal Johnson struck is not a good deal – it’s far too thin,” he told the Financial Times.
“As we go into 2025 we will attempt to get a much better deal for the UK,” he said, although he did not specify what parts of the deal he would seek to improve.
He added that he was confident a better deal could be negotiated with Brussels, as well as a “closer trading relationship”.
“We have to make it work. That’s not a question of going back in, but I refuse to accept that we can’t make it work,” he said, adding that he was thinking about “future generations”.
“I say that as a dad. I’ve got a 15-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl. I’m not going to let them grow up in a world where all I’ve got to say to them about their future is, it’s going to be worse than it might otherwise have been.
“I’ve got an utter determination to make this work.”
The Labour leader spent the weekend meeting fellow centre-left leaders in Canada, including the country’s prime minister Justin Trudeau.
He is also expected to travel to Paris to meet French President Emmanuel Macron later this week, where post-Brexit relations are expected to feature heavily in talks.
He also traveled to the Hague, the Netherlands, last week to meet with the EU’s law enforcement agency Europol, seeking a deal to try and stop smuggling gangs bringing people across the channel in small boats.
That led to accusations by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman that his party was planning to let the UK become a “dumping ground” for 100,000 migrants from the continent each year, claims he said were “complete garbage”.
