Keir Starmer is using a speech Monday to outline Labor’s five-point plan to “make Brexit work,” a slogan he first used in his party’s conference speech last year.
Labor’s approach is to seek to de-dramatize the issue, focusing on the practical aspects, rather than reopening old political wounds:
1) Solve the Northern Ireland Protocol
Boris Johnson’s government is on the path to war with the EU over protocol, with controversial legislation making its way into the House of Commons that would fail to implement aspects of the agreement the government signed in 2019.
However, Labor says there is a “landing zone” in negotiations between the two sides, which would include the search for a veterinary agreement to cover agricultural products, which would lift many of the cumbersome controls.
For other goods, Labor says it would work with companies in Northern Ireland to launch a scheme of trusted traders to reduce the proportion of exports to be subject to controls.
2) Reduce the paperwork
Workers will try to extend the new veterinary agreement across the UK, so that in addition to UK products being sold to Northern Ireland, exports to the EU could also face fewer controls.
It would also try to negotiate “mutual recognition of conformity assessments” in some sectors, so that companies would only have to face a set of tests to demonstrate that they meet the standards required in the UK and EU.
Labor expects this to be negotiable because, according to Starmer, his government has no intention of cutting standards, although it is unclear whether the EU will be convinced. Theresa May sought a similar result, but was willing to subscribe to EU regulations for key products such as the quid quo pro.
Workers would also look for new flexibility for people who want to work in the EU in the short term, such as touring musicians.
3) Support and scientific services
The third point includes a set of technical changes aimed at making life easier for employees and companies to work and export to the EU.
Starmer says Labor wants to negotiate mutual recognition of professional qualifications with the EU, for example, to allow UK professionals such as lawyers to practice more easily in the EU and vice versa.
And Labor will seek access to cross-border scientific efforts such as Horizon, which UK scientists are currently unable to access due to the dispute over the protocol: the EU ambassador to the UK recently called this “collateral damage” .
4) Look for a security pact
Former Prime Minister Theresa May used a speech in Munich in 2018 to set out her hopes of negotiating a comprehensive security pact with the EU, despite her determination to abandon its common foreign and security policy. When Boris Johnson took over the negotiations, he abandoned the idea, however, of focusing mainly on trade and the knot of the border with Northern Ireland. Starmer argues that the current clash over the protocol is hampering the UK’s ability to cooperate with the EU on other issues, including security, and says Labor will try to reach a new agreement. This would include working together on issues such as intelligence and cybersecurity.
5) Invest in the UK
The fifth point, perhaps the least developed, is, in general, what the UK can do now to maximize the benefits of being outside the EU. Starmer says Labor “would use green investment and the commitment to buy, manufacture and sell in Britain to make sure we are in the best position to compete on the global stage”.
He also suggests that the party would take a new approach to trade, which would “put people, communities, rights and standards at its very center,” although it is unclear what this would mean in practice.
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6) Do not try to re-enter the single market or restore free movement
Starmer’s plan has only five points, but almost the most striking element is what he says he won’t do: argue for the UK to rejoin the single market or restore free movement.
As he says: “With Labor, Britain will not return to the EU. We will not enter the single market. We will not join a customs union. We will not return to freedom of movement to create short – term solutions. “
Starmer spent much of the last parliament helping to drag Labor into a second referendum policy and said during his leadership campaign that he would advocate free movement.
But now he believes there is little to gain electorally from reviewing the issue, and whatever the hopes of many party members, he hopes, as he says, to “move on.”