Time for the PM to back his words with action on EU trade - Yorkshire Post Letters
From: Jas Olak, Vice Chair, Leeds for Europe, Roundhay, Leeds.
It’s encouraging that Sir Keir Starmer is still talking about the harm Brexit is doing to our country (PM’s sign of reshape of Europe relations, TYP, December 2). He and other senior Labour ministers could have quietly reverted to avoiding the topic after Rachel Reeves’s Budget last month.
“Confront the reality,” says Sir Keir: “We have significantly hurt our economy and so for economic renewal, we have to keep reducing frictions.”
It’s a pity he wasn’t saying that 18 months ago. Then maybe Labour wouldn’t have gone into the 2024 General Election campaign with “red lines” surrounding talk of rejoining the European Union, single market or customs union.
That’s either hamstrung the Government or given ministers a feeble excuse to avoid the serious action our country now needs. Rethinking those red lines now would boost economic confidence and probably be good for a party struggling in the polls. After all, 78 per cent of 2024 Labour voters back ‘Rejoin’ (YouGov, July 2024).
In the accompanying Comment piece, you say: “At a time when the economy is stalling, the Government should be doing everything it can to make trade easier.”
Many highly-regarded observers say the impact of Brexit is greater than the four per cent hit to GDP forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility. However, despite an overall gloomy Budget assessment, the OBR is sticking to its four per cent figure.
However, in February this year, Best for Britain-commissioned Frontier Economics calculated that more than half of this might be recovered if the Government adopted the deep regulatory alignment for goods and services – whilst still keeping this side of its red lines.
Ministers must step up the pace on Europe. At the next general election, it won’t be Sir Keir’s words but what his Government has done and achieved that will determine whether voters think it deserves a second term.