{"id":624170,"date":"2025-12-10T12:22:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T12:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/624170\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T12:22:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T12:22:31","slug":"six-london-labour-mps-break-rank-to-back-rejoining-customs-union-after-brexit-blow-to-britain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/624170\/","title":{"rendered":"Six London Labour MPs break rank to back rejoining Customs Union after Brexit blow to Britain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six London<\/a> Labour<\/a> MPs have broken rank to back Britain rejoining the Customs Union<\/a> after the economic damage caused by Brexit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Proposals to create a new UK-EU Customs Union were supported in the Commons, following a vote by MPs.<\/p>\n

The Customs Union (Duty to Negotiate) Bill, tabled by the Liberal Democrats\u2019 Europe spokesman Al Pinkerton, ended in a surprise tie of 100 votes to 100.<\/p>\n

So the Deputy Speaker Caroline Nokes, who was in the Chair, cast the deciding vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn accordance with precedent, I will cast the casting vote \u2018aye\u2019 to allow further debate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Dame<\/p>\n

Dame Meg Hillier (PA Archive)<\/p>\n

The Government is pressing for closer economic ties with the European Union to boost trade<\/a> but has ruled out rejoining the Customs Union.<\/p>\n

Thirteen Labour MPs, though, voted for the Customs Union bill.<\/p>\n

They included Dame Meg Hillier<\/a>, chair of the influential Commons Treasury Committee and MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch, as well as Diane Abbott<\/a>, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington.<\/p>\n

\"Diane<\/p>\n

Diane Abbott MP (PA Archive)<\/p>\n

Putney MP Fleur Anderson, Battersea MP Marsha De Cordova, Brent East MP Dawn Butler, as well as Bell Ribeiro-Addy, MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill, also backed it.<\/p>\n

The motion was supported by the six Liberal Democrat MPs in London, party leader Sir Ed Davey (Kingston and Surbiton), Paul Kohler (Wimbledon), Munira Wilson (Twickenham), Sarah Olney (Richmond Park), Luke Taylor (Sutton and Cheam) and Bobby Dean (Carshalton and Wallington).<\/p>\n

It was opposed by Conservative MPs including former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith (Chingford and Woodford Green), Bob Blackman (Harrow East), Gareth Bacon (Orpington) and Andrew Rosindell (Romford).<\/p>\n

\"Sir<\/p>\n

Sir Iain Duncan Smith (PA Archive)<\/p>\n

Mr Pinkerton brought forward the proposed Bill through a 10-minute rule motion.<\/p>\n

Bills tabled in this manner are very unlikely to become law without Government support, but they do allow MPs to make a case for new legislation in the Commons.<\/p>\n

Mr Pinkerton told the Commons on Tuesday: \u201cUp and down the country, businesses know it, the public feel it and it\u2019s time that this House find the courage to lift our whispered voices and admit it – Brexit has been an abject economic failure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s choked business investment, shattered economic resilience, strangled trade, shrunk the economy and left every single one of us poorer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe economic benefits of Brexit were only ever an illusory mirage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Office for Budget Responsibility has highlighted the economic damage of Brexit.<\/a><\/p>\n

The fiscal watchdog said just weeks ago: \u201cThe ongoing impact of Brexit, we continue to expect to reduce the overall trade intensity of the UK economy by 15 per cent in the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n

A growing majority of Britons now say Brexit was a mistake, according to polls.<\/p>\n

Conservative former minister Simon Hoare, who supported staying in the EU during the referendum, objected to the 10-minute rule motion.<\/p>\n

Mr Hoare argued the UK had not been made weaker as a result of Brexit, pointing to European leaders in Downing Street on Monday to discuss the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cAs somebody who voted to remain part of the European Union in the referendum, and campaigned strongly to do so, I accepted the result of the referendum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Keir Starmer was forced to clarify his position against rejoining the Customs Union<\/a> last week after his deputy David Lammy<\/a> praised how membership had boosted growth in other countries.<\/p>\n

Asked on the News Agents podcast if he would like to see the UK in a customs union, Justice Secretary Mr Lammy, MP for Tottenham, said: “That is not currently our policy.<\/p>\n

“But you can see countries like Turkey with a customs union seemingly benefiting and seeing growth in their economy, and, again, that’s self-evident.”<\/p>\n

Sir Keir later said Labour would be sticking to its manifesto, which pledged to strengthen ties with Brussels without returning to the Customs Union, Single Market or freedom of movement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six London Labour MPs have broken rank to back Britain rejoining the Customs Union after the economic damage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[193937,802,748,193938,193935,6852,145613,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,173458,187847,193939,49268,193936,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-624170","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-al-pinkerton","9":"tag-brexit","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-caroline-nokes","12":"tag-conservative-mps","13":"tag-customs-union","14":"tag-diane-abbott","15":"tag-eu","16":"tag-europe","17":"tag-european","18":"tag-european-union","19":"tag-great-britain","20":"tag-iain-duncan-smith","21":"tag-labour-mps","22":"tag-marsha-de-cordova","23":"tag-meg-hillier","24":"tag-the-commons","25":"tag-uk","26":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115695253061766159","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624170","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=624170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}