Welsh politicians push party to back single market membership
LEADING figures from Welsh Labour have urged the UK leadership to back full membership of the single market and the customs union, as delegates from across Britain gather for the party conference in Brighton.
More than 40 senior figures in the Labour movement – including MPs Chris Bryant (Rhondda), Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth), Madeleine Moon (Bridgend) and former Welsh Secretary Peter Hain – have pushed for the commitment.
They call for Labour to “have the courage of its convictions on Brexit” and accuse the UK Government of pursuing a “Westminster power grab that would undermine both the sovereignty of parliament and the devolution settlement”.
Warning that the poorest will be the hardest hit by Brexit, they state: “The economic impact of leaving the Single Market would hit the most vulnerable in our society hardest. Vital employment and environmental protections would be placed at the whim of this or any future Tory government.
“And being outside the Customs Union would mean masses of new red tape, a desperate scramble for trade agreements and the re-emergence of a border in Ireland.”
They are adamant Labour should “commit to staying in the Single Market and Customs Union” and not rule out any “options for how to achieve this”.
Calling for the party to offer a “clear alternative” to a “destructive Brexit”, they state: “Labour is right to argue for a transitional period as we leave the EU, but we must now go further. It is simply unsustainable to say we are an anti-austerity party but that we would jeopardise ties with our biggest trading partner.”
However, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn sounded a cautious note when interviewed by the BBC’s Andrew Marr.
He said he wanted to ensure “tariff-free access to the European market” but added: “I would also say that we need to look very carefully at the terms of our trade relationship, because at the moment we are a part of the single market and that has within it restrictions on state aid and state spending and pressures on it, through the European Union, to privatise rail and other services. I think we need to be careful about the powers we need as a national government.”
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told ITV’s Peston on Sunday it was “difficult to see” how the UK could stay in the single market if the EU maintained its rules on freedom of movement. However, he suggested it could be possible to persuade other EU member states to accept changes that would open the door to membership of a reformed single market.
“In that way, we think we can achieve all the benefits of the single market, overcome some of the disbenefits that were perceived in the referendum and in that way achieve a close and collaborative relationship with Europe in all our interests,” he said.
“We believe we can reform freedom of movement of people on the basis of protecting wages. That would be a changed single market.”
He said Labour wanted “a relationship which is based on tarifffree access, the structures renegotiated but the objectives are the same”.
Mr Corbyn was cautious about a deal with the United States, telling the BBC: “I don’t want us to become some kind of offshore tax haven on the shores of Europe. I don’t want us to do some sweetheart deal with Donald Trump which means that you lower environment, consumer and working conditions in the USA, then you lower them in Britain in order to meet the USA, the go down further and further... [a] race to the bottom – very bad.”
Conservative MP Luke Hall said: “Labour are totally divided over Brexit.
“Just a few months ago, the Labour leader and Shadow Chancellor stated that it was Labour policy to leave the single market – as to do otherwise would be to disrespect the referendum result.
“And yet now, large numbers of their MPs are telling them to do just that and defy the will of the people by remaining in the single market and customs union permanently.”