Labour shadow minister ‘hopes’ UK will re-join EU single market

‘We certainly need to renegotiate the deal,’ Anna McMorrin tells Labour supporters

A member of Sir Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet told party was recorded telling supporters that she hopes the UK can re-join the EU single market and customs union.

Shadow justice minister Anna McMorrin suggested a Labour government could renegotiate the existing Brexit deal, saying: “We certainly need to renegotiate the deal.”

She also shared her desire to get Britain back in the EU single market. “I hope eventually that we will get back into the single market and customs union, and who knows then,” the frontbencher said.

Stung by loss of support from Leave voters, Sir Keir has been careful to avoid promising any significant changes to Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal – saying only he wanted to make arrangements “work”.

Video of the Labour Communications event, obtained by The Sun, showed Ms McMorrin being asked whether a return to the EU single market was possible. “I hope so – I really hope so,” she said.

The shadow minister told the event: “Customs union and single market at the very least I think, in future, I hope we will return to that. At the moment there is not really scope for having that conversation at the moment.”

She added: “At the moment what we need to be doing is setting out what we’re doing what we have now, where we are right now … Getting into government, there might be some scope then to renegotiate. We certainly need to renegotiate the deal, certainly.”

But Labour made clear her comments do not reflect the party’s position. “Policy is clear,” said a spokesperson. “We need a strong relationship with EU partners but that does not involve membership of the customs union or the single market.”

Ms Morrin later told The Independent: “Labour party policy on Brexit is clear. We have left the EU, Labour voted for the deal. It is now the job of all of us to make it work.”

The prime minister taunted Ms McMorrin over her Brexit remarks at PMQs after she challenged him about his own cost-of-living tsar’s previous remarks saying he “has to go”.

Mr Johnson replied: “I read … she wants to go back into the single market and into the customs union. If that’s the real policy of the Labour party … why won’t the leader of the opposition admit it?”

Shadow cabinet minister David Lammy said in September that a Labour government would “fix” the Brexit deal – appearing to raise the prospect of more talks with the EU.

At the time of the Labour conference, Mr Lammy said: “This is [Mr Johnson]’s deal. When we come to government, we’ll have to look at how we fix his deal.”

However, Sir Keir said emphatically last year that there was “no case” for any “major renegotiation” of the withdrawal accord struck with the EU. He has since talked about making Brexit “work”.

It comes as the EU launching legal action against Mr Johnson’s government in response to unilateral moves to tear up parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol in his own Brexit deal.

The protocol bill is “extremely damaging to mutual trust and respect between the EU and the UK” Maros Sefcovic said. “That is why the Commission has today decided to take legal action against the UK for not complying with significant parts of the protocol.”

Starmer said last week that a future Labour government would repeal any legislation passed to unilaterally ditch the mutually-agreed protocol.

“We would scrap the legislation,” Sir Keir said on a visit in Belfast – who said the UK-EU row over protocol checks “can be overcome around the negotiating table with statecraft, with high levels of trust”.