Sir Keir Starmer was criticized by Europhile politicians on Monday after the Labor leader ruled out a possible future return of the UK to the European Union’s single market or customs union.
Starmer used a speech on Monday night to denounce the “mess” created by Brexit and its fallout and set out a five-point plan to deal with the economic pain, while refusing to reverse the decision. A different government could “make Brexit work”, he said.
Since becoming opposition leader two years ago, Starmer has accepted that the UK will leave the EU, but Monday’s speech marked a tactical shift, including a more critical stance on Johnson’s deal.
“Given that 45 percent of people think Brexit is going badly, against 27 percent who think it’s going well – and yet most people would still stick with their decision to vote in 2016 – this seems pragmatic place for Starmer,” said Ben Page, CEO of polling company Ipsos.
As shadow Brexit secretary under former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, Starmer was an advocate for a second Brexit referendum, a policy that contributed to the loss of many seats from the so-called “Red Wall” in the party’s heartland.
Running scared from the Tories and mutating into a pale imitation of Boris Johnson, Starmer offers no real change at all
Now he is determined to dismiss any talk of a Labor government taking Britain back into the EU.
“Keir Starmer has strengthened the case for independence by embracing the Tories’ hard Brexit,” said Ian Blackford, Westminster leader of the Scottish National Party, which campaigns for an independent Scotland to re-enter the EU. “Fleeing in terror from the Tories and mutating into a pale imitation of Boris Johnson, Starmer offers no real change at all.”
Stella Creasy, chair of the Labor Movement for Europe, said the speech “finally opens the door” to a different future with Europe. “We call on Keir to make sure nothing is ruled out as a solution in the fight to tackle the cost of living crisis and protect jobs, trade and security,” she said.
Starmer said a Labor government would try to negotiate mutual recognition of professional qualifications, strike a vet deal, make it easier for artists to make short visits to the continent, align data adequacy rules and keep Britain in EU science programs such as the flagship €95 billion Project Horizon.
European governments have responded positively to Starmer’s ideas, while acknowledging that he is unlikely to be in power for long. “There are positives there, but it’s all a balance between rights and obligations and it depends on what obligations the UK is prepared to accept in exchange for rights,” said one diplomat.
The row over the implementation of post-Brexit trade deals in Northern Ireland has poisoned relations between the EU and the UK.
Boris Johnson’s government has introduced legislation it says will “fix” problems in the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol by giving ministers the power in domestic legislation to unilaterally cancel the Brexit deal with the EU. Brussels, in turn, threatened a potential trade war.
The standoff over the protocol has put the rest of the EU-UK economic relationship in a deep diplomatic freeze and blocked the UK’s participation in Horizon.
It is recommended
But one European Commission official said if London cooperated on the protocol, it had the potential, as Starmer suggested, to open up Horizon, facilitate trade and make it easier for artists and athletes to make short trips to Europe.
Starmer also pledged to seek a “mutual recognition of professional qualifications” agreement with Brussels, which he said would ensure British professional services companies could compete in the EU.
The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement contains a framework for further discussions on the mutual recognition of qualifications, but little progress has been made.
There was strong opposition from some EU countries because of fears that British lawyers, accountants and architects would grab business in the bloc, a commission official said. “It’s very political. Member States will be concerned.”
Catherine Barnard, professor of EU law at Cambridge University, pointed out that the EU-Canada free trade agreement, which contains a similar services framework, showed the limits of such deals.
“Canada was only able to get one deal, for architects, and that took nine rounds of negotiations,” she said.
Work in Scotland
Labor also clarified its position on Scotland on Monday. Anas Sarwar, leader of the Scottish Labor Party, said the party would not do any deal with the Scottish National Party in the event of a deadlocked parliament in Westminster.
Boris Johnson, the Conservative prime minister, said Labor would be forced to form a coalition with the SNP if it was the largest party but failed to win a majority after the next election.
“All this nonsense about deals is straight out of Trump’s fake news playbook,” Sarwar said in a speech in London.
“Let me make one thing crystal clear today. . . regardless of the outcome of the next UK general election, Labor will not do a deal with the SNP.”
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