UK rules out single market return as Starmer seeks closer EU ties

(Alliance News) - The UK will not rejoin the EU's single market or customs union despite UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer promising to be "bolder" in seeking closer ties with Brussels.

Cabinet minister Bridget Phillipson said the "red lines" set by Labour would not be changed.

The prime minister expects progress on a scheme allowing 18-30 year-olds from the UK and EU states to live and work in each others' countries, arguing: "Brexit has held back our young people".

"They should be free to work, study, travel in European countries, just as I was able to when I was growing up," he told The Observer.

"That has been snatched away from young people because of Brexit. I'm not going to let Brexit stand in the way of their opportunities."

Starmer said "we have to be closer to Europe" and "I want to be full-throated about this, not holding back, no half measures in what I'm saying".

"We have to be bolder in the arguments that we are making in relation to our economy and in relation to our young people."

The youth experience scheme, allowing young EU and British citizens to work and study in each others' countries, is expected to be agreed this summer and implemented by 2027.

But despite Starmer's push for closer ties, Phillipson insisted Labour's manifesto promises – no return to free movement, the single market or customs union – remained in place.

"We hold to what we said in our manifesto, but we do need a closer relationship with Europe," she said.

"I'm absolutely clear about that."

She told Sky News: "It's clear to me that Brexit has caused our country untold damage and has massively hit people in terms of the cost of living and their living standards.

"And the big cost that we faced as a country is that we spent 10 years talking about our relationship with the EU rather than focusing on things that really matter."

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said the prime minister's potential rivals should abandon the red lines.

"The leading contenders for the Labour leadership, including Andy Burnham, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting, should put the country first and commit to fixing our broken relationship with Europe if they enter No 10," he said

"Without a much deeper, more ambitious trade deal with Europe, we won't see the growth we desperately need, and the forces of populism on both left and right will only grow."

source: PA

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