Keir Starmer faces Labour Brexit backlash for vowing to stay outside EU
Sir Keir Starmer has faced a backlash from Remainers within Labour after insisting that Britain’s future lies outside the EU.
The party’s leader issued his strongest commitment yet on Wednesday that he will not take the UK back into the bloc in any way. He insisted that arguments over whether to return to the Single Market or Customs Union “are in the past, where they belong”.
Sir Keir pledged in the Daily Express that he would head up a government “with the vision and the focus” to “make Brexit work”.
But the remarks drew instant ire from Remainer MPs and activists within Labour who want him to take a much more pro-EU line.
Stella Creasy, the MP for Walthamstow, said: “Don’t believe the hype – the British public know you can’t make Brexit work. They aren’t interested in re-running 2016. They want action now on problems it’s creating for British businesses and workers – and will vote for it!”
She is the national chair of the Labour Movement for Europe, a pro-EU campaign organisation which is officially affiliated to the party.
Polling published by the group shortly after Sir Keir’s remarks suggested Labour risks losing out on votes because of its tough position on Brexit.
Rosie Duffield, the MP for Canterbury, shared an article about the survey headlined “Labour in danger of losing votes for being too pro-Brexit, top pollster warns”.
Alastair Campbell, the former Labour spin doctor, said that the “make Brexit work” slogan should be “put in the Labour bin” by Sir Keir.
“Fix the Tories’ Brexit mess is both more believable and what people… actually want,” he added.
In his column, Sir Keir said that despite it being “no great secret that I voted Remain” he had found “plenty to agree with Leave voters about”.
“No matter how people voted, they wanted a better health service, better jobs, better wages, more security, a sense of control over their lives and their communities,” he wrote.
“If we are to make Brexit work, we need a government with the vision and the focus to deliver it. Let me spell it out simply.
“Britain’s future is outside the EU. Not in the single market, not in the customs union, not with a return to freedom of movement. Those arguments are in the past, where they belong.”
The Conservatives accused Sir Keir, who campaigned for a second referendum before becoming leader, of flip-flopping on Brexit.
A Tory spokesman said: “Slippery Starmer will say anything if the politics suit him – the British people cannot trust his word.
“He was elected on a manifesto which promised to respect the referendum, then voted against it 48 times and campaigned to overturn the result. Only the Conservatives can be trusted to seize the benefits of Brexit and deliver on the people’s priorities.”
It came as new polling showed that a third of voters believe Britain will rejoin the EU within the next two decades. A survey by YouGov found more than a quarter of Leave voters think the referendum decision will be reversed by 2043.
Overall just 46 per cent of the public reckon that the UK will still be outside the bloc by then. The poll also revealed voters are unsure of Sir Keir’s position on Brexit, with 44 per cent saying they did not know his stance.
