{"id":381696,"date":"2025-08-29T04:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T04:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/381696\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T04:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T04:12:11","slug":"brexit-tackle-speech-from-labour-what-to-make-of-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/381696\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Brexit tackle’ speech from Labour – what to make of it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n His address was perhaps surprisingly robust. Then again, it did come as arch-Brexiter and Reform UK<\/a> leader Nigel Farage<\/a> was continuing to bang the anti-European drum noisily.\n<\/p>\n

\n Labour has seemed a bit too shy when it has come to making a noise about its efforts for a closer relationship with the EU, seemingly for fear of upsetting Brexit voters who swept Boris Johnson to victory in the December 2019 election.\n<\/p>\n

\n However, you could surely make an argument that Labour would be wise to highlight its different view on Europe to that of Reform UK and the Tory arch-Brexiters. After all, its seeming timidity to talk too much about Europe and Brexit does not seem to have done it any favours in the opinion polls so far, and in terms of appealing to the Leavers there is no way it is going to outdo the rhetoric of Farage and co.\n<\/p>\n

\n There were quite a few other highlights in Mr Thomas-Symonds\u2019s speech.\n<\/p>\n

\n Reflecting on the run-up to the Brexit deal with the EU agreed by the Johnson administration, Mr Thomas-Symonds declared: \u201cSome leaders never grasped the consequences of the route they took\u2026\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe result was the first free trade agreement in history that made it harder to trade.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n It should be noted that it made it much, much harder to trade.\n<\/p>\n

\n If anyone was in any doubt about the scale of the benefits of frictionless trade with the EU that the UK enjoyed when it was part of the bloc, the colossal damage that has come with the loss of this should leave no one in any doubt.\n<\/p>\n

\n Returning to Mr Thomas-Symonds\u2019s speech, he flagged efforts on various fronts to work more closely with the EU, and declared: \u201cSome will say we\u2019re surrendering sovereignty, or freedoms.\n<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cBut that is absolute nonsense. What are those things in a modern context? Is it businesses drowning under mountains of paperwork\u2026or free trade, a country now free to strike deals across the world and boost economic growth?\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n The last part of this, about being \u201cfree to strike deals across the world\u201d is dispiritingly Johnson-esque, and the free trade agreements signed by the Tories and Labour offer very small benefits indeed relative to what has been lost with Brexit.\n<\/p>\n

\n So it is important to recognise that, while the speech appeared to show a bit more boldness on Europe, we should not get carried away given the limited extent of this improvement.\n<\/p>\n

\n What is more, somewhat dishearteningly, Mr Thomas-Symonds, while talking about \u201cthe kind of strategic partnership we need\u201d in the context of pursuing closer relations with the EU, declared: \u201cThis is making a Brexit that works for Britain\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n The words \u201cBrexit\u201d and \u201cworks\u201d in the same sentence would be comical, if the damage being done to the economy from the UK\u2019s departure from the EU were not so great.\n<\/p>\n

\n Having said that, we should not overlook the positives in Mr Thomas-Symonds\u2019s speech.\n<\/p>\n

\n He explained well, in the context of agri-food, the importance of \u201cshared rules\u201d and flagged the agreement between the UK and EU unveiled in May to progress a sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement.\n<\/p>\n

\n Mr Thomas-Symonds said: \u201cWe will enter into a food and drink deal as outlined in the Common Understanding signed in May.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt means aligning standards on food and agriculture when, and where, it\u2019s in the interests of British businesses. And it means shared rules. But all international agreements involve shared rules. That\u2019s their very nature.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n He observed that \u201cfree traders and conservatives have always wrestled with this.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\n However, Mr Thomas-Symonds added: \u201cThe boldest have always been pragmatists too. Back in the 80s, when President Reagan was negotiating a free trade agreement, the arguments came down to how to settle disputes and the roles of courts. Sound familiar?\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cCanadian Prime Minister Mulroney challenged him – \u2018Now Ron, how is it that the United States can agree to a nuclear reduction deal with their worst enemy, the Soviet Union, but not do a deal with Canada to make trade easier?\u2019. Reagan did the deal.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Mr Thomas-Symonds declared that \u201cmost British exporters already align de facto with EU standards to keep selling their goods\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n He added: \u201cThe question is not whether alignment is inherently wrong. It\u2019s whether, as a sovereign country, we decide where it works for us.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis Government thinks that in some cases, like SPS, it is in our national interest to align with the EU. We have made that choice because it is pragmatic, and we own it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n He flagged a tumble in UK exports to the EU since Brexit.\n<\/p>\n

\n In 2024, UK goods exports to the EU were down nearly one-fifth on their 2019 level in real terms.\n<\/p>\n

\n Mr Thomas-Symonds said: \u201cSince 2021, over 16,000 businesses have stopped exporting to the EU entirely.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n He added: \u201cBehind every number and statistic is a British business, a British entrepreneur, a British start-up. Paying the price. I\u2019ve spoken to them – hauliers stuck in queues, farmers facing endless forms, manufacturers paying more just to stand still.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cLet\u2019s say you\u2019re in the agri-food business selling your goods to Europe. So, you need an export health certificate to transport food across the border – \u00a3200 – that\u2019s not a one-off fee, that\u2019s per consignment. If you\u2019re exporting salmon or beef, queuing times for SPS checks, \u00a3149 for each shipment. If you\u2019re selected for sampling, up to \u00a31,400 a shipment, on fees, waiting times and cost of the product sampled.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n He declared that \u201ccompanies big and small are crying out for change, for practical help to bring down bills so they make goods cheaper for the public\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Mr Thomas-Symonds flagged a crucial observation from Alex Freudmann, managing director of M&S Food.\n<\/p>\n

\n Mr Freudmann said: \u201cBrexit bureaucracy continues to add complexity and cost for retailers, and limits choice and value for customers.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n That does not sound good for anyone.\n<\/p>\n

\n Mr Thomas-Symonds said a Department for Environment<\/a>, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) report published on Wednesday showed \u201cthere\u2019s been a disproportionate impact on smaller businesses\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n It remains lamentable that Labour is only tinkering around the edges when it comes to the huge cost of Brexit for the UK economy. It is sticking with its red lines of not rejoining the EU or the single market and thus continuing to lose out on the massive benefits of entirely frictionless trade and of free movement of people between the UK and European Economic Area.\n<\/p>\n

\n Having said that, it is heartening to hear some home truths on Brexit from Labour. And, in terms of its efforts to rebuild relations with the EU, it is probably worth bearing in mind that, while these are demoralisingly unambitious, something is better than nothing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"His address was perhaps surprisingly robust. Then again, it did come as arch-Brexiter and Reform UK leader Nigel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-381696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115110107040897368","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}