Keir Starmer says he would negotiate new Brexit deal

Sir Keir Starmer has announced that he plans to reopen Brexit trade talks and secure a “closer trading relationship” with the EU.

The Labour leader said that if elected prime minister he would seek to “improve” the deal negotiated by Boris Johnson in 2019.

Tory MPs said the remarks showed that he “cannot be trusted on Brexit” and planned to take the UK back into the bloc by stealth.

Sir Keir made the remarks after Stellantis, the parent company of the car manufacturer Vauxhall, warned that the future of its UK plants was at risk.

The firm is concerned about new rules coming into force in 2024 which make it harder to export vehicles to the continent.

‘We need a better deal’

Asked about the warning, the Labour leader said that “we need a better deal” and his party would “make Brexit work” in government.

“We do need to improve that deal. Of course we want a closer trading relationship, we absolutely do,” he told the BBC.

“That doesn’t mean reversing the decision and going back into the EU but the deal we’ve got, it was said to be oven-ready, it wasn’t even half-baked.

“I don’t think we should rejoin either the EU generally or the single market, but I do think that we should break down barriers.”

Senior Tories seized on the remarks and said they showed Sir Keir would look to reverse Brexit and drag Britain closer to the EU.

‘Lover of U-turns’

Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former business secretary, said: “Starmer of the second referendum and lover of U-turns proves once again that he cannot be trusted on Brexit.”

Mark Francois, the chairman of the ERG, said the Labour leader had tried to “frustrate us ever leaving the EU in the first place”.

He added: “I have always maintained that he ‘Remains a Remainer’ at heart – and now the truth is finally seeping out.

“That man would try and take us back into the EU, even without a referendum, if he ever got the chance.”

David Jones, a former Brexit minister, said the remarks indicated that Sir Keir wanted to move Britain “even closer into the orbit of Brussels”.

“This should come as no surprise. He spent a large part of the last Parliament pushing for a second referendum, contrary to the clear wishes of the British people,” he said.

“Rather than seeking to expand the UK’s global trading relationships, his ideal is of a UK still clinging to the EU’s apron strings, too nervous and lacking in confidence to make its own way in the world.”

New banking deal

In a sign that relations with the EU have improved since Mr Sunak struck his Brexit deal, Brussels agreed on Wednesday to sign a banking deal between Britain and the EU.

The European Commission said that it had adopted a draft memorandum of understanding (MOU) designed to encourage cooperation between the EU and UK on voluntary financial services regulation.

It will establish a joint forum where senior figures from both sides will meet regularly to discuss upcoming regulation and challenges in the sector.

It comes over two years after the agreement was thrashed out between both sides in March 2021, but was abandoned after relations between London and Brussels worsened.

Although the MOU must still receive the approval of EU member states, the move signals the first step towards a wider deal with the EU for the City.

Mairead McGuinness, the European commissioner for financial services, said: “The Windsor Framework allowed the EU and the UK to open a new chapter in our partnership based on a spirit of mutual trust and cooperation.”

You can read all the developments from the day below.