{"id":626327,"date":"2025-12-11T13:26:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T13:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/626327\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T13:26:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T13:26:20","slug":"are-we-about-to-revisit-brexit-again-news-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/626327\/","title":{"rendered":"Are we about to revisit Brexit, again? | News Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"Boris
\n\t\tJust when we thought we had heard the last of it\u2026 (Picture: Getty)<\/p>\n

Read more from Craig in\u00a0Metro\u2019s politics newsletter\u00a0Alright\u00a0Gov?\u00a0<\/a>which delivers exclusive analysis and more to your inbox every week.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Iron your mini Union Jack and get practicing your robot dance moves to Abba<\/a> \u2013 we\u2019re heading back to the good old days of Brexit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It turns out three and a half years wasn\u2019t enough time to spend debating the details of the UK\u2019s relationship with the European Union<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These constitutional questions have been in hibernation for a while since we officially left the bloc in January 2020, but in recent weeks we\u2019ve seen them starting to stir once again.<\/p>\n

All that culminated in a House of Commons vote this week, in which MPs backed joining a customs union with the EU<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yeah, that genuinely happened on Tuesday afternoon. But we\u2019ll revisit the vote in a bit, because context is important.<\/p>\n

The current chat about potentially rejoining the customs union appears to have whipped up by a line in a post-Budget article in the Observer<\/a>, which said Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s<\/a> economic adviser Minouche Shafik had suggested the idea as an effective way to generate growth.<\/p>\n

(As a quick reminder for those who have successfully suppressed the Brexit years: joining the EU Customs Union<\/a> would mean all barriers to trade are removed, while other restrictions like movement would remain.)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\tEd Davey has been pushing the government over trade with the EU in recent weeks. (Picture: Parliament TV)<\/p>\n

Adding fuel to the fire, Deputy PM David Lammy<\/a> heavily implied he backed a customs union in an interview with the News Agents podcast<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n

He said it was \u2018self-evident\u2019 that countries like Turkiye benefitted economically from having that deal with the EU, but added it was \u2018not currently our policy\u2019. You\u2019ll note the word \u2018currently\u2019 standing out like a scoop of ice cream on your Christmas<\/a> dinner.<\/p>\n

All this gave the pro-EU Liberal Democrats<\/a> an idea \u2013 they could force a vote in Parliament<\/a>, giving Labour MPs who like the idea of a customs union the chance to put their view on record.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tWhat is a customs union and why do the Lib Dems want us to join one with the EU?\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Simply put, it\u2019s an agreement between two or more countries to remove trade barriers and lower or eliminate tariffs.<\/p>\n

Usually these countries will also have a common tariff on goods and services that enter from outside the customs union.<\/p>\n

Lib Dem<\/a> leader Sir Ed Davey<\/a> believes that entering a customs union with the EU would improve the British economy: \u2018The prime minister must now listen to Parliament and the public, drop his self-imposed red lines and finally go for proper growth through an ambitious trade deal with the EU.\u2019<\/p>\n

However, Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly ruled this out, pointing to recent deals with India<\/a> and the USA that he says would be affected by joining the EU Customs Union.<\/p>\n

That brings us back to yesterday. The vote was on a \u2018ten-minute rule\u2019 bill presented by Lib Dem MP Al Pinkerton \u2013 those kinds of bills are typically symbolic, as they rarely return to the Commons for a second reading even if they\u2019re passed.<\/p>\n

But those dastardly Lib Dems got what they wanted. A total of 13 Labour MPs joined those voting \u2018aye\u2019, and the bill narrowly passed after the deputy speaker broke a tie.<\/p>\n

(Incidentally, Sir Ed Davey\u2019s party has form for this kind of thing. Almost exactly a year ago, they unexpectedly won another ten-minute rule vote on changing the UK voting system<\/a><\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Caption:
\n\t\tLib Dem MPs were shocked when the vote was passed (Picture: Parliament TV)<\/p>\n

So after all that, you might be asking: are we rejoining the customs union?<\/p>\n

I can almost guarantee we won\u2019t rejoin the customs union via Al Pinkerton\u2019s bill.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tIf you were in charge, would you reverse Brexit?<\/p>\n