Sir Keir Starmer has declared “Britain’s future is outside the EU”, confirming Labour will not seek to rejoin the bloc if it wins power.
The Labour leader accepted it is “no great secret” he voted Remain in the 2016 referendum. But Sir Keir said he agreed with Leave supporters who wanted “a better health service, better jobs, better wages, more security, a sense of control over their lives and their communities”.
And, in a pitch aimed at Brexiteers disgruntled with the high tax burden, record-high immigration, the state of the NHS and “out of control” crime, Sir Keir set out plans to “make Brexit work”.
“If we are to make Brexit work, we need a government with the vision and the focus to deliver it,” he added.
Sir Keir’s promise comes as regret among Leave voters sits at a record high, with more voters than ever believing Brexit has been a “failure”. A recent YouGov poll found just a fifth of Brexiteers think Brexit has been a “success”, while a third who believe the opposite.
And, ruling out any move to rejoin the EU, Sir Keir risks disappointing Labour voters, 86 per cent of whom say the UK was wrong to leave in the first place. Former Brexit party leader Nigel Farage also recently declared that Brexit had “failed”.
Writing in the Daily Express, the former director of public prosecutions promised to spell out Labour’s Brexit policy “simply”.
“Britain’s future is outside the EU. But the paper-thin Tory deal has stifled Britain’s potential and hugely weighted trade terms towards the EU,” he said.
Sir Keir added: “More than anything, British businesses and households need stability and certainty. They need us to use our sovereignty to benefit them, not as a tool to manage the Tory Party.”
He highlighted recent warnings from the car industry that their future is under threat, claiming Britain could become a world leader in electric car manufacturing.
The Labour leader also said scientists and researchers face “an uncertain future” not knowing whether they will be able to access the Horizon EU funding programme. And he said the “failure of the Tories’ Brexit deal” had driven up food prices, which he called “unforgivable” during the cost of living crisis.
“We need to act now,” Sir Keir said. “There is a deal to be done that makes good on the British people’s desire to maintain our high food and animal welfare standards and prevent the burden of bureaucratic red tape. It could save our importers hundreds of millions of pounds a year.”
He said Labour would work with European neighbours to bring down the price of food and tackle gangs smuggling migrants across the channel. “There is huge potential for change. That’s why we should be optimistic,” he said.
Sir Keir added: “Every one of the problems I have outlined can be fixed from outside the EU. But it will require hard work, good relations and - above all - honesty.
“Pretending everything is going fine, or ducking hard conversations, will see Britain miss opportunities and slip behind our competitors.”
And he called on prime minister Rishi Sunak to “face up to the truth” that his party has got Brexit “wrong”.
“Failure to do the hard yards needed to right those wrongs will mean the Tories fail to deliver for Britain and fail to deliver on the promise of Brexit,” he said.
