Starmer fuels Labour rift over its single market policy

LABOUR’S Brexit policy descended into chaos yesterday after Sir Keir Starmer refused to back Tom Watson’s claim that the UK could remain in the European single market permanently.

Sir Keir said Labour wanted the UK to secure a “changed relationship with the single market” after Brexit despite Mr Watson, the party’s deputy leader, having suggested last week that Britain could keep its current trading arrangements with the bloc indefinitely.

Mr Watson said remaining part of the single market and customs union “might be a permanent outcome” of Brexit negotiations.

But Sir Keir appeared to distance himself from his fellow frontbencher as he insisted the claim needed to be put “in context”. Asked on BBC Newsnight last week if Labour was now the party of “soft Brexit”, Mr Watson replied: “Yes, you have seen Keir Starmer’s statement, we think that being part of the customs union and the single market is important in those transitional times because that is the way you protect jobs and the economy, and it might be a permanent outcome of the negotiations.”

But Sir Keir told the Andrew Marr Show on BBC One: “I think we need to just put Tom Watson’s remarks in context and I don’t want to get into the weeds of all this over and over again.

“What we have said about the final arrangement is this: That we want a partnership with the EU that retains the benefits of the single market and the customs union.

“We are open to a discussion that leaves a customs union with the EU on the table as a viable option.

“We haven’t swept that off the table, a customs union with the EU, and a changed relationship with the single market because if you want to retain the benefits you have got to be open to that discussion.”

Labour’s shift towards advocating a “soft Brexit” has led to warnings that the party will lose voters who switched from Ukip at the election.

‘We are open to a discussion that leaves a customs union with the EU on the table as a viable option’