‘Look before you leap’ has to be the best approach to Brexit
Voters should tell candidates in the election to negotiate hard to make our departure from the EU work for us
voted Leave did not do so to make Britain poorer and themselves worse off.
There are all sorts of ways for Britain to make a deal with Europe and that’s why all those standing as candidates in this election should be asked to make clear that they will keep an open mind on the negotiations before agreeing to any irrevocable step.
A l re a dy M r s M ay has made a negotiating error in narrowing her options — just to make her party happy — and ruling out ways in which Britain can both leave the EU and retain its trading rights in the single market. We could do as Norway did when its public voted against joining the EU in the Nineties — it opted instead to become part of the European Economic Area, which gives you the same rights to trade although with less say in deciding the rules that govern that trade.
The same option is available to Britain but with a difference: we have a bigger economy than Norway, we are more important to the rest of Europe and with the pre-eminent status of a recent influential member of the EU. If, with one foot still in the European camp, we asked for flexible terms, for example in how freedom of movement operates, we would be listened to and, in my view, accommodated. The Prime Minister will not be given this chance if she simply continues as she has started, by laying down the law and spelling out where she won’t budge. By doing so she is making it harder to get the best deal for Britain.
It is clear, though, that Mrs May and the Tories are the favourites on June 8. This election may not result in a change of government but that does not mean there is not a real choice to be made. A strong parliamentary opposition to the Tories will stop the Prime Minister being given a blank cheque for hard Brexit.
Earlier this week Labour shared more of its thinking about the Brexit negotiations. Keir Starmer was clearly giving himself more wriggle-room to test the options available and to keep open the possibility that, on the right terms, Britain would negotiate to remain in the single market after leaving the EU.
If this is the best economic settlement — the one that secures the greatest continuity of our existing trade — it must be the right choice. It would mean politics was no longer driving the negotiation — hardline, dog-in-themanger Tory politics — and that growth and prosperity were put first. Yes, it would involve compromise but give and take would need to be offered by everyone, ourselves and the EU.
This is the outcome worth voting for. That’s why candidates’ views should be closely examined and judged not on the basis of some foregone conclusion but in the country’s long-term interests.
Peter Mandelson is a leading supporter of Open Britain, the proEuropean campaign organisation.