The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
‘Tariff-free access a priority’
Labour would prioritise having access to the tarifffree arrangements in the customs union and single market, the shadow cabinet office minister has said.
Jon Trickett said his party wanted Brexit to work for jobs and growth, but did not confirm Labour’s position on membership of the single market – saying they were not “wedded to any particular institutional framework”.
Mr Trickett told a TV politics programme: “We are taking the deal that we need to have access to all of the tariff-free arrangements which exist within the customs union and the single market.”
He added: “We’re not going to say that we have to do one thing or other in terms of institutional relationships. What we have to have is a Brexit which works for jobs and for growth and also for the protections which working people have.
“How that comes out in the negotiations remains to be seen.”
Asked whether it was Labour’s policy to remain in the single market, Mr Trickett said: “Our policy is to secure all of the rights which exist and tariff-free access within the single market and the customs union.
“We are not saying that their particular institutional form is something we’re going to wed ourselves to at this stage, but let’s see where the negotiations go.”
Mr Trickett’s comments come after 50 Labour politicians wrote to Jeremy Corbyn calling on him to fight “unambiguously for membership of the single market” in the Brexit negotiations.
Chuka Umunna, David Lammy and Liz Kendall were among MPs behind the letter, published by a national newspaper on Tuesday, which urges Mr Corbyn to “strongly oppose” Theresa May’s decision to take single market membership “off the table” in the discussion.
It states: “An ambitious and confident alternative government – with Corbyn at the helm – should not throw in the towel as May has done, but could seek membership with reforms on immigration and the other matters we seek.”