Labour puts pressure on May with Brexit shift
BRITAIN could stay in a customs union with the European Union after leaving the bloc if Labour win power, the main opposition party said yesterday, putting pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May’s divided government over Brexit.
Labour’s Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said the party was ready to be the grown-ups in the room and take charge of negotiations to leave the EU, cautioning against taking anything off the table when looking at Britain’s future ties with the EU.
After months of sticking to a position little different from the Conservative Party’s pursuit of a clean break with the EU, Labour changed tack last month by suggesting that, if in power, it would press for remaining in the EU’s single market for a transition period to smooth Britain’s departure in March 2019.
Starmer’s words took that position further.
“If we were in government we would negotiate a final deal that retained the benefits of the customs union and the single market,” Starmer told hundreds of Labour members in the southern English seaside town of Brighton.
“Subject, of course to negotiations, remaining in a form of customs union with the EU is a possible end destination for Labour.”
But while challenging May’s vision for Brexit, the move also could deepen divisions in Labour, putting those who want the close economic ties of a customs union at odds to others who say the referendum vote means complete withdrawal.
Steve Baker, a Conservative minister working on Brexit, criticised Labour for having “no plan for Brexit, no interest in controlling our borders and no desire to make the most of the opportunities it will bring”.
After Britain voted to leave the European Union last year, divisions over what Brexit will look like have split both parties and the country, revealing deep differences between the south and the more industrial north of England, between young and old and between urban voters and those in rural areas.
While Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain, England and Wales voted to leave.
Labour and the Conservatives have both struggled to keep their parties together on Brexit strategy, but by aiming for what some call a softer departure, the leftist party hopes to offer a catch-all option to voters across the divide.
While Labour said it offered flexibility, May’s government counters that staying in the customs union, which imposes tariffs on trade with external countries, would betray the Brexit vote and stop Britain from agreeing on trade deals with other countries.
“We are also flexible as to whether the benefits of the single market are best retained by negotiating a new single market relationship or by working up from a bespoke trade deal,” Starmer said. – Reuters