{"id":647228,"date":"2025-12-21T23:59:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T23:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/647228\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T23:59:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T23:59:26","slug":"streeting-faces-criticism-as-he-appears-to-back-joining-customs-union-with-eu-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/647228\/","title":{"rendered":"Streeting faces criticism as he appears to back joining customs union with EU \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wes Streeting has been accused of making a bid for the Labour leadership over focusing on the NHS, after he appeared to hint Britain should join a customs union with the EU.<\/p>\n

The Health Secretary told the Observer newspaper a \u201cdeeper trading relationship\u201d with Europe would be a means of boosting the UK\u2019s economic growth, in what appeared to be a direct challenge to Sir Keir Starmer.<\/p>\n

\"PrimePrime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has ruled out any change in policy on a customs union (Jonathan Brady\/PA) <\/p>\n

The Prime Minister has ruled out a change in the Government\u2019s policy towards a customs union only in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

Mr Streeting came under fire from Labour\u2019s electoral rivals, with the Conservatives suggesting he was putting \u201cpolitical pitch-making\u201d above his role as Health Secretary, while Reform UK described the proposal as a surrender of a \u201cvaluable Brexit freedom\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Karen<\/a>\"Best<\/a><\/p>\n

A Government source, meanwhile, accused Mr Streeting of \u201csetting out his stall\u201d for a leadership bid in his Observer interview, according to the Times newspaper.<\/p>\n

Only in November was the Health Secretary forced to deny suggestions he wanted to oust Sir Keir from Downing Street and replace him.<\/p>\n

He continued to shrug off claims he wants to be prime minister as he spoke to the Observer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe closer I see that job and the pressure on Keir and the demands of that job, the more I wonder why anyone would want it,\u201d Mr Streeting said, later adding the PM has \u201cgot my absolute support\u201d.<\/p>\n

In what has been seen by some as an attempt to create a dividing line with the PM, Mr Streeting ruled out a return to the single market, and thereby freedom of movement, but appeared to leave the door open to a customs union.<\/p>\n

\"WesWes Streeting said he wouldn\u2019t want to be prime minister after seeing the \u2018pressure\u2019 and \u2018demands\u2019 of the role (Gareth Fuller\/PA) <\/p>\n

\u201cThe best way for us to get more growth into our economy is a deeper trading relationship with the EU,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Streeting added: \u201cThe 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. This is a country and a Government that wants a closer trading relationship with Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge is any economic partnership we have can\u2019t lead to a return to freedom of movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Keir has ruled a customs union as one of the \u201cred lines\u201d Labour will not cross as it seeks to build closer ties with the EU.<\/p>\n

Under such an arrangement, the UK would get access to tariff-free trade with the bloc, while having to accept common standards for traded goods.<\/p>\n

Re-joining the customs union would undo trade deals Britain has struck with the US and India, the PM has warned.<\/p>\n

\"ReformReform UK deputy leader Richard Tice described Sir Keir\u2019s \u2018reset\u2019 deal as a \u2018shameful betrayal\u2019 (Stefan Rousseau\/PA) <\/p>\n

Sir Keir has recently faced pressure from his own backbenchers to change course on a customs union.<\/p>\n

On December 9, some 13 Labour MPs voted in the Commons in favour of proposals which would pave the way for a new customs union, the Customs Union (Duty to Negotiate) Bill, though this is highly unlikely to become law.<\/p>\n

Responding to Mr Streeting\u2019s comments, a Conservative Party spokesman said: \u201cInstead of focusing on running the health service, Wes Streeting is busy courting left-wing, pro-EU Labour Party members \u2014 now even floating the idea of dragging Britain back into the EU\u2019s customs union.<\/p>\n

\u201cPatients and NHS staff deserve a Health Secretary focused on delivery, not political pitch-making.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice MP said: \u201cStarmer\u2019s so-called \u2018reset\u2019 deal was already a shameful betrayal of what people voted for in 2016 and now we\u2019ve heard it straight from the horse\u2019s mouth, Labour Remoaners like Wes Streeting will not be satisfied until every valuable Brexit freedom is surrendered directly to Brussels.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wes Streeting has been accused of making a bid for the Labour leadership over focusing on the NHS,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[802,748,6852,2000,299,5187,1699,105,285,520,1201,16,3595],"class_list":{"0":"post-647228","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-customs-union","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-european","14":"tag-european-union","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-sir-keir-starmer","18":"tag-trade","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-wes-streeting"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115760280282415613","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647228","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=647228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}