Britain should take its rules from Brussels, says Miliband
DAVID Miliband was accused last night of wanting to turn Britain into a ‘vassal state’ after he said it makes sense to become a ‘rule-taker’ from Brussels.
The arch- Remainer and former Labour foreign secretary called for closer ties with the EU as he claimed the UK’s days as a ‘superpower’ were over.
And he hinted that he could make a dramatic return to Parliament – saying it had ‘ not been decided yet’ whether he would stand as an MP at the next general election.
Mr Miliband quit Parliament in 2013 – a few years after he lost the Labour leadership to his brother Ed – to take over running the International Rescue Committee charity in New York.
He refused to rule out a return to Westminster in an interview with LBC radio on Monday and urged the UK to align more closely with the EU.
He said: ‘There is a regulatory block in the world defined by the EU, there is a regulatory bloc in the world defined by America, there is a regulatory bloc in the world defined by China.
‘There is not going to be a regulatory bloc defined by the UK. We have to decide. We are not going to be a member of the EU but aligning with EU standards, given it’s our largest market, makes common sense.
‘The argument against that is we don’t want to be a rule-taker. But, point one, we actually wrote a lot of these rules when we were in the EU. Point two, the Brexiteers have shown no ability – literally zero – to find one area where they can have regulatory divergence.’
Mr Miliband reiterated his comments in a speech yesterday, when he said Britain’s influence abroad has been ‘badly tarnished by our own choices’ – including Brexit.
He said the UK should go ‘all in’ on French President Emmanuel Macron’s new European Political Committee, a club open to non-EU members, claiming Britain must ‘embrace’ the idea that ‘our European neighbours are more like us than any other country in the world’.
He added: ‘This does not mean reopening or renegotiating or litigating the 2016 referendum. Brexit is a fact. I always feared it would be a net negative, but it did not need to be as bad as this.’
Tory former Brexit minister David Jones said: ‘Perhaps Mr Miliband might be wiser staying in New York. He clearly isn’t keeping up with UK politics.
‘It was the UK that led the international response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. Other countries have respect for Britain and its important role in the world; David Miliband seems not to.
‘Aligning with EU standards would be to lack ambition and turn Britain into a vassal state.’
Mr Miliband also suggested that rather than increase the UK’s defence spending, the Government should invest more in diplomacy and intelligence, which have much smaller budgets.
‘Since we are no longer in a position to be a superpower or a super connector, we can be a supercharger on key issues as long as we are focused.’
Labour sources said they were unaware of any comeback discussions with Mr Miliband.
‘Wiser staying in New York’
HaVinG flounced off to america after losing the 2010 Labour leadership election to his brother, could it be that David Miliband is preparing to grace us with a return to British politics?
Still the same old diehard remainer, he was explaining yesterday how the UK should realign with Brussels regulation – as if the referendum had been just some inconvenient dream.
a lot has happened since Mr Miliband left to earn a fortune heading an international charity – the humiliation of brother Ed, the rise and fall of Corbynism, and the near destruction of his party.
He didn’t want to roll up his sleeves and fight for his principles then. But now the hard yards are over and Labour has a chance of regaining power, he deigns to make a reappearance. What a sham!