Labour cannot ‘make Brexit work’ – and Keir Starmer should be honest about that

Editorial: Labour perversely risks being unable to capitalise on the growing concern about the disaster of Brexit, even as it gains momentum

Accepting Brexit in the way Labour has is unconvincing as well as wrong in principle (Getty)

Sir Keir Starmer should know better than to launch a European policy with the slogan “Make Brexit Work”. That’s because it is, in fact, impossible to make Brexit work. It is an inherently damaging project, incompatible with a stable economy, the Good Friday Agreement, and amicable relations with Britain’s closest neighbours and allies.

As is increasingly becoming apparent, it is a disaster. It is not something that can be turned into a success with a five-point plan, as Sir Keir suggests. Striking a new agreement for the whole of the UK on veterinary standards, for example, would cut red tape for farmers. This would be extremely welcome, but it cannot “make Brexit work”. What’s more, Sir Keir knows this.

Accepting Brexit in the way Labour has is unconvincing as well as wrong in principle. Well within living memory, Sir Keir was a passionate advocate of remaining in the European Union. He was the shadow Brexit secretary who fought Brexit all the way in the Commons. He supported The Independent’s Final Say campaign for a referendum on the eventual terms of Brexit. He is not a Brexiteer, and neither is, or was, anyone on Labour’s front bench. Indeed, the leadership under Jeremy Corbyn was more Eurosceptic than is the present team.

The transparent reason that Labour has changed its stance so dramatically is that it wants to “neutralise” the issue in preparation for regaining its Leave-leaning seats in the North (though clumsily lumping Leave and the North together is always a mistake). Its leader fears, understandably, a rerun of the 2019 general election next time round, with Boris Johnson attempting to “get the band back together” and reassemble the coalition that gave him his handsome majority in the Commons.

Yet the fact is that the economic crisis means that a closer relationship with Europe is essential if the UK wants to restore its prosperity, reduce inflation, and ease the cost of living crisis. The EU is not, and never was, an obstacle to British economic growth, but a guarantor of it.

The public seems to be appreciating this, and has not been repelled by Labour’s pro-European instincts (and still less those of the more committed Liberal Democrats and SNP).

Labour made significant gains in the north of England and the Midlands in recent local elections and the Wakefield by-election, before Sir Keir’s faux Damascene conversion to Brexit. Labour’s poll ratings have risen despite his previous creative ambiguity on Europe. The public are also growing more sceptical about the Brexit project. Though this disillusionment is neither complete nor yet enough to boost enthusiasm for rejoining the EU by much, the trend is clear and is driven by the harsh economic and political consequences as they emerge.

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Labour, therefore, perversely risks being unable to capitalise on this growing concern about the disaster of Brexit, even as it gains momentum. No one believes that Sir Keir is some sort of committed Farageist these days, and he opens himself up to cynicism – if not ridicule – as a result.

Labour should be honest with itself and with the public. The party should at least advocate re-entering the European single market and/or the customs union, in order to open up markets and reduce restrictions, red tape and bureaucracy. Apart from boosting economic growth, to do so would solve the Irish border problem at a stroke.

Such a move might not require a referendum, because the UK remains a parliamentary democracy. Labour would simply need to win a convincing enough mandate at the next election. It would, however, require the party to have the courage of its convictions and a hunger to win the argument. The public might respect that, and they are likely to find the thought of such measures more and more compelling as the economy falters and heads into recession. “Make Britain Work” is a much better tagline.