{"id":646262,"date":"2025-12-21T12:49:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T12:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/646262\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T12:49:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T12:49:22","slug":"wes-streeting-says-starmer-must-go-further-to-undo-brexit-as-he-heaps-pressure-on-pm-and-refuses-to-rule-out-running-for-labour-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/646262\/","title":{"rendered":"Wes Streeting says Starmer must go further to undo Brexit – as he heaps pressure on PM and refuses to rule out running for Labour leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

By KATHERINE LAWTON, NEWS REPORTER<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 07:02 EST, 21 December 2025 | Updated: 07:35 EST, 21 December 2025 <\/p>\n

Wes Streeting<\/a> has suggested Sir Keir Starmer must go further to undo Brexit<\/a> – after refusing to rule out that he may run for leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Health Secretary, 42, previously indicated that the UK could return to the EU customs union and has now piled even more pressure on the Prime Minister.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, the Government said it would remain outside the customs union and single market, with no return to freedom of movement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sir Keir has moved closer to the EU already, striking a fresh trade deal with the bloc in May this year that included concessions on red tape and fishing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But he is still facing more pressure from members of his party, with Mr Streeting suggesting the UK should rejoin the customs union.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Health Secretary told The Observer: ‘The reason why leaving the EU hit us so hard as a country is because of the enormous economic benefits that came with being in the single market and the customs union.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘This is a country and a government that wants a closer trading relationship with Europe. The challenge is any economic partnership we have can’t lead to a return to freedom of movement.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

He added: ‘We’ve taken a massive economic hit leaving the European Union. I’m really uncomfortable with the level of taxation in this country.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Wes <\/p>\n

Wes Streeting (pictured) has suggested Sir Keir Starmer must go further to undo Brexit\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Sir <\/p>\n

Sir Keir has already moved closer to the EU, striking a fresh trade deal with the bloc in May that included concessions on red tape and fishing<\/p>\n

Mr Streeting added that the Government has made a ‘good start’ with the revised deal but he would like to see things go further.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He has refused to rule out that he may one day run for rulership, despite last month denying that he was plotting to oust the Prime Minister<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He had been touted as a potential replacement to Sir Keir<\/a>\u00a0alongside Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who is seen as a rising star in the Labour Party<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he was planning a leadership challenge, Wes Streeting previously told Sky News<\/a>: ‘No, and I think whoever’s been briefing this has been watching too much Celebrity Traitors, and this is just about the worst attack on a faithful I’ve seen since Joe Marler was kicked out and banished in the final.<\/p>\n

‘It’s totally self defeating briefing, not least because it’s not true and I don’t understand how anyone thinks it’s helpful to the Prime Minister either.’<\/p>\n

Sir Keir is aware of the growing threat to his position and is ‘already fighting the leadership election’ by reaching out to Labour backbenchers, according to The Times.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n Wes Streeting says Starmer must go further to undo Brexit – as he heaps pressure on PM and refuses to rule out running for Labour leadership<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By KATHERINE LAWTON, NEWS REPORTER Published: 07:02 EST, 21 December 2025 | Updated: 07:35 EST, 21 December 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,92,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,807,8414,12,16,15,3595],"class_list":{"0":"post-646262","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-dailymail","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-european","14":"tag-european-union","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-keir-starmer","17":"tag-labour","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-wes-streeting"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115757645284992264","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646262","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=646262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}