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What is Keir Starmer’s position on Brexit now?

For how long can the Labour Party hold back from expressing a view on such an important subject, asks John Rentoul

Sunday 18 April 2021 21:30 BST
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<p>Keir Starmer echoes David Cameron, who told his party: ‘Stop banging on about Europe’</p>

Keir Starmer echoes David Cameron, who told his party: ‘Stop banging on about Europe’

Brexit is the common theme of three of the big political stories today: the resurgence of violence in Northern Ireland; the reduction of trade with the EU; and the agitation in Scotland for another independence referendum. Britain’s departure from the EU is not the sole cause of any of them, but is an important factor in each of them.

Yet Keir Starmer has imposed a self-denying ordinance on the Labour Party, saying that it accepts Brexit and does not even want to renegotiate the Trade and Cooperation Agreement – the treaty that sealed our exit on 1 January.

Louise Haigh, the shadow minister for Northern Ireland, points out that many of the problems there are caused by the protocol in Boris Johnson’s withdrawal agreement, which puts a border in the Irish Sea (though the prime minister insists otherwise) – but she does not advocate tearing up the protocol and starting again. Instead of proposing that the UK should rejoin the EU customs union, for example, the Labour line is that the Brexit treaties should be made to work.

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