Sir Keir announced on July 4 that Labor would not seek to rejoin the EU in government, ruling out any hopes of return. The Labor leader promised instead to restore confidence in the EU and get “a better deal for the British people”. However, a former MEP recalled Sir Keir’s push for a second referendum and poured water over claims the Labor leader could negotiate a better deal.
Patrick O’Flynn, former Social Democratic Party MEP, said Sir Keir should “never forget his Brexit betrayal”.
He said the Labor leader “broke his word to the British people about accepting the referendum verdict” while serving under Jeremy Corbyn.
O’Flynn added: “A few days before the 2017 election, Starmer was speaking on behalf of his entire party as a Brexit spokesperson when he promised on camera that it would accept the 2016 referendum ruling ‘on principle’.
“Yet within 18 months he was busy overturning that verdict and calling for a second referendum in which Labor would campaign for Remain.”
While serving as shadow Brexit secretary under Corbyn, Sir Keir pushed for a second Brexit referendum despite Labor accepting the result in 2019, MPs said.
He told UNISON in June 2019: “I think very soon we will openly say we want to campaign to stay. But I want to do it as one.”
In August 2019, Sir Keir caused confusion after saying that Labor would campaign to stay in the EU in “any outcome”.
Corbyn said repeatedly at the time that Labor would only support Remain if the alternatives were a conservative Brexit deal or no deal.
In the Labor Together report on the 2019 election defeat, they cited Corbyn’s leadership, Labor’s stance on Brexit and its policy program as the main reasons why the party lost 60 seats.
In November 2020, Labor MPs Ian Lavery and Jon Trickett said Labor’s Brexit policy was an electoral disaster.
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In The Spectator, Mr O’Flynn wrote that Sir Keir should be challenged on his claim that he will “solve the bad deal Boris Johnson signed” and “ensure a better deal for the British people”.
He added: “We know from the difficult Brexit negotiations that the EU will not voluntarily reopen the Withdrawal Agreement or the Trade and Cooperation Agreement unless a gun is held to the head or the UK offers something substantial in return.
“Starmer’s Labor will never go down the arms route, so one has to adopt the Theresa May approach of formally excluding things like membership of a customs union, while building devices that in reality amount to just that – a Lewis Carroll Brexit in which words mean exactly what the Labor leader chooses to mean.”
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Stephen Boot, head of the Britain in the World project at Policy Exchange, also wrote to Conservative Home that the new Tory leader should ignore Sir Keir’s plans to “abolish Brexit as an election weapon”.
He said: “Keir Starmer has calculated that there is no electoral advantage for the Labor Party to reopen the Brexit debate in a fundamental way.
“In his Brexit speech last week, the only significant dividing line the Labor leader outlined was over the Northern Ireland Protocol.”
Sir Keir suggested negotiating a new UK-EU veterinary agreement for agri-food products to reduce controls, including in the Irish Sea.
Mr Boot continued: “Despite the crucial issue of the Northern Ireland Protocol, Starmer’s stated Brexit policy is not materially different from that of the current government.
“Starmer’s intention is to remove Brexit as an electoral weapon from the Conservatives.
“It requires and therefore empowers a new leader to move beyond a debate dominated by Brexit polemics on both sides and to get to grips with the trade-offs Britain needs post-Brexit.”
It comes as Sir Keir and David Lammy, the shadow foreign minister, flew to Germany to meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Sir Keir is expected to tell Mr Scholz that Labor is ready to form a government and has a plan to ensure Britain and Germany can work together to boost economic growth and stand unitedly against Russia aggression.
The leader and Mr Lammy also want to discover what Britain can learn from the best economic models around the world, and how a future Labor government could work with other European countries to navigate the post-Brexit world.