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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
Ninian Wilson

Keir Starmer rules out the single market and freedom of movement 'forever'

Keir Starmer has also ruled out any deals with the SNP in Westminster

LABOUR leader Keir Starmer has ruled out joining the EU single market or freedom of movement "forever" in an appearance on LBC.

Starmer has recently made commitments to the hard Brexit negotiated by Boris Johnson but when pressed by Andrew Marr on the subject, the Labour leader ruled out joining the single market in perpetuity.

Marr asked Starmer: “You said no to the Single Market and no to freedom of movement, can I ask you because it wasn’t clear, is that no to the single market forever? Is it no free movement forever?”

Starmer replied: “Yes, Andrew, it is. It’s looking forwards not backwards. We need to make Brexit work, and that means that we need to improve the deal we’ve got, this deal the Government’s got, this deal that Boris Johnson’s got is holding us back.”

Starmer went on to outline the five priorities of his party if they were to get into power. They were to fix the Northern Ireland Protocol, reduce barriers to trade, improve arrangements on services and scientific communities, improve security arrangements and invest in the UK.

Starmer has also recently ruled out any prospect of striking a deal with the SNP in Westminster in a bid to pre-empt Tory attack lines on a “coalition of chaos”.

And he reaffirmed this stance once he was cleared over beergate.

He said: “Let me tell the SNP first – there will be no deal going into a General Election and no deal coming out of a General Election. And that’s not about a numbers game, as far as I’m concerned. I want to be PM for the whole of the United Kingdom."

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