Keir Starmer<\/a> risks re-igniting a row with members of his cabinet<\/a> after he signalled the UK is prepared to \u201cget closer\u201d to the European Union to undo the harm caused by Brexit<\/a>. <\/p>\n The prime minister said Britain should align itself more closely with the EU<\/a> single market<\/a> when it is in the national interest, adding \u201cwe should go that far\u201d. <\/p>\n But he poured cold water on the idea the UK should rejoin a customs union<\/a> with the bloc, days after his health secretary Wes Streeting<\/a> said the arrangement had “enormous economic benefits”.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Sir Keir Starmer said the UK should \u2018go further\u2019 in its post-Brexit relationship (PA) (PA Media)<\/p>\n Sir Keir said there was too much water \u201cunder the bridge\u201d, particularly after the UK signed trade deals with the US and India which would potentially have to be unravelled for there to be any customs union deal. <\/p>\n But he said the UK could go \u201cfurther\u201d on the single market. <\/p>\n In an interview with the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show, the PM pointed to steps agreed last year to align the UK more closely with the EU on agriculture and food<\/a>, adding: “That’s the sovereign decision that we have taken.<\/p>\n “I think we should get closer, and if it’s in our national interest to have even closer alignment with the single market, then we should consider that, we should go that far.”<\/p>\n He added: “I think it’s in our national interest to go further.\u201d<\/p>\n On the idea of a customs union, he added: “I do understand why people are saying ‘wouldn’t it be better to go to the customs union?’ I actually think that now we’ve done deals with the US which are in our national interest, now we’ve done deals with India which are in our national interest, we are better looking to the single market rather than the customs union for our further alignment.”<\/p>\n But the prime minister ruled out a return to freedom of movement, a key principle of the EU\u2019s single market, although he pointed to plans for a new scheme to allow young people to come and work in the UK, and vice versa, for a set period of time. <\/p>\n In response, shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel accused the Labour leader of a \u201cBrexit<\/a> betrayal\u201d.<\/p>\n “In a desperate bid to appease his backbenchers, Keir Starmer<\/a> is pursuing alignment with the single market – surrendering our freedom to cut regulation and strike our own trade deals,” she added. <\/p>\n Before Christmas No 10 was forced to say the PM was \u201cvery happy\u201d with his cabinet after Mr Streeting\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n In what was seen as a direct challenge to Sir Keir, the health secretary said a \u201cdeeper trading relationship\u201d with Europe would boost UK economic growth.<\/a><\/p>\n The Labour leader has pledged a \u201creset\u201d of UK-EU relations but has rejected calls to rejoin the group or become part of its single market or customs union.<\/p>\n However, in recent weeks Labour ministers have begun to talk more about the economic costs of Brexit.<\/p>\n A recent analysis, seen by The Independent, revealed that the EU is costing the UK up to \u00a390bn a year in lost tax revenues.<\/a><\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Health Secretary Wes Streeting said a customs union had \u2018enormous economic benefits\u2019. (Lucy North\/PA) (PA Wire)<\/p>\n On Sunday the Lib Dems announced they will try to force a new Parliamentary vote on a customs union, by tabling an amendment to the EU Reset Bill, expected to be brought forward by the government in the coming weeks. <\/p>\n At the start of December more than a dozen Labour MPs voted with the Libs to call on the government to open talks on a new EU<\/a>-UK customs union.<\/a> <\/p>\n Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: \u201cBusinesses are drowning in red tape and families are paying the price for the appalling Brexit deal left by the Conservatives. But so far the Labour government has been far too timid, only tinkering around the edges when it comes to rebuilding our ties with Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673796,"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-673795","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\/115838237339684383","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673795","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=673795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Sir](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767551112_603_170600658fad18f6337f27ddd8cf7d66Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzY3NjExMDI1-2.82940694.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Health](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/a2698f879829ee062903c977296cf6afY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzY3NjExNDg2-2.82823316.jpg\")
<\/p>\n