Keir Starmer used a speech on Monday to outline Labour’s five-point plan to “make Brexit work” – a slogan he first used in his party conference speech last year.
Labour’s approach is to seek to de-dramatise the issue by focusing on the practical rather than reopening old political wounds:
1) Settlement of the Northern Ireland Protocol
Boris Johnson’s government is on a warpath with the EU over the protocol, with controversial legislation moving through the House of Commons that would reject aspects of the deal the government signed in 2019.
Labor says there is a “landing zone” in talks between the two sides, but it will include seeking a veterinary agreement to cover agricultural goods, allowing many of the cumbersome checks to be removed.
For other goods, Labor says it will work with businesses in Northern Ireland to introduce a trusted trader scheme to reduce the proportion of exports that must be subject to checks.
2) Reduce paperwork
Labor will seek to extend the new veterinary agreement to the UK so that, apart from UK products sold in Northern Ireland, exports to the EU could potentially face fewer checks.
It will also seek to negotiate “mutual recognition of conformity assessments” in some sectors – so that companies only need to pass one set of tests to show they meet the required UK and EU standards.
Labor hopes it will be negotiable because, Starmer says, his government has no intention of lowering standards – although it is unclear whether the EU will be convinced. Theresa May sought a similar outcome, but she was prepared to go along with EU regulations on key goods as a quid quo pro.
Labor will also seek new flexibility for people who want to work in the EU in the short term, such as touring musicians.
3) Support services and scientists
Point three includes a set of technical changes aimed at making it easier for employees and companies to work in and export to the EU.
Starmer says Labor wants to negotiate mutual recognition of professional qualifications with the EU, for example to allow UK professionals such as lawyers to practice more easily in the EU and vice versa.
And Labor would like access to cross-border science ventures such as Horizon, which British scientists are currently unable to access because of the dispute over the protocol – the EU ambassador to the UK recently called it “collateral damage”.
4) Look for a security pact
Former prime minister Theresa May used a speech in Munich in 2018 to express her hopes of negotiating a comprehensive security pact with the EU, despite her determination to leave the common foreign and security policy. When Boris Johnson took over the talks, however, he abandoned the idea of focusing mainly on trade and the thorny issue of the Northern Irish border. Starmer argued that the current standoff over the protocol was hampering the UK’s ability to cooperate with the EU on other issues, including security – and said Labor would try to strike a new deal. This will include working together on issues such as intelligence and cyber security.
5) Invest in the UK
Point five, perhaps the least developed, is broadly about what the UK can do now to maximize the benefits of being outside the EU. Starmer says Labor will “use green investment and a commitment to buy, make and sell in Britain to ensure we are in the best position to compete on a global stage”.
He also suggested the party would adopt a new approach to trade that would “put people, communities, rights and standards at its very heart”, although it is unclear what this would mean in practice.
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6) They do not seek to rejoin the single market or restore free movement
Starmer’s plan has just five points, but almost the most striking element of it is what he says he will not do – insist that the UK rejoin the single market or restore free movement.
As he says: “With Labor Britain will not go back to the EU. We will not join the single market. We will not enter a customs union. We will not go back to freedom of movement to create short-term solutions.”
Starmer spent most of the last parliament helping to steer Labor towards a second referendum policy and said during his leadership campaign that he would fight for free movement.
But he now believes there is little to be gained electorally from revisiting the issue and, whatever the hopes of many in the party, hopes they will, as he puts it, “move on”.
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