Britain\u2019s so-called Brexit wars dominated parliament for years. Now, the Labour government is bracing for new battles as it prepares legislation aimed at moving the country closer to the European Union.\n<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Keir Starmer immediately set about repairing and rebuilding relations with the 27-member bloc after winning the July 2024 election, which ousted the Conservatives after 14 years in power.\n<\/p>\n
He hopes a deeper relationship with Britain\u2019s European neighbours can help revive the sluggish economy and inject momentum into a premiership that has so far struggled with public approval.\n<\/p>\n
The Labour government is preparing to introduce a bill that would provide a legal framework for Starmer\u2019s much-touted \u201creset\u201d of relations with the EU.<\/p>\n
Despite Labour\u2019s crushing parliamentary majority, the move is expected to face fierce opposition from right-wing parties, including the Conservatives, who oversaw Britain\u2019s exit from the EU, and the hard-right Reform UK, which currently leads opinion polls.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cBring it on,\u201d a UK government official told AFP, referring to expected accusations of a \u201cBrexit betrayal\u201d from the Conservatives and Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage.\n<\/p>\n
The proposed legislation also risks exposing divisions within Labour, particularly over whether the party should breach its manifesto pledge not to rejoin the EU customs union.<\/p>\n
Last year, Starmer reached an economic agreement with EU leaders aimed at boosting trade by easing red tape on food and plant exports. Both sides also agreed to work towards a new electricity deal that would integrate the UK into the EU\u2019s internal electricity market, with the goal of lowering energy costs.\n<\/p>\n
The agreements would involve Britain aligning with EU rules in specific areas.\n<\/p>\n
Although the bill has yet to be published, the government official said it would establish a mechanism for such alignment.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bill will provide the powers to adopt the rules and set out the role parliament will play in that,\u201d the official said.\n<\/p>\n
The government hopes to introduce the legislation in the spring or summer, potentially coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum held in June 2016.\n<\/p>\n
The referendum was followed by three years of bitter parliamentary deadlock over Britain\u2019s post-EU future, eventually leading to the resignation of then prime minister Theresa May. The impasse was broken after her successor, Boris Johnson, won a landslide election victory in December 2019 to push through Britain\u2019s departure. <\/p>\n
Opinion polls now regularly show that most Britons regret the narrow vote to leave the EU and view Brexit as a failure, a sentiment Starmer hopes will bolster support for closer alignment.<\/p>\n
\u201cLabour members are almost wholly united in wanting to see some of the damage done by the Tory-Farage Brexit exposed and fixed,\u201d a supportive Labour MP told AFP.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cCloser alignment supports our economic message, has the backing of members and most MPs, and would boost British business,\u201d the lawmaker added.\n<\/p>\n
However, consensus within Labour is not universal. Thirteen Labour MPs recently voted in favour of a bill proposed by the pro-EU Liberal Democrats calling for negotiations to rejoin the EU customs union.\n<\/p>\n
Health Secretary Wes Streeting, widely regarded as a potential successor to Starmer, has indicated support for such a move, although Starmer has ruled out rejoining the customs union, favouring closer alignment with the EU\u2019s single market instead.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI want us to do more,\u201d one Labour MP who believes Starmer is being overly cautious said anonymously.\n<\/p>\n
Others have urged restraint. \u201cWe said we wouldn\u2019t reopen the Brexit debate, and now we are doing exactly that,\u201d Labour MP Jonathan Hinder said.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can create a fairer, socialist Britain outside the EU, and that is what we should be focused on.\u201d<\/p>\n
A UK government spokesperson said the reset was improving diplomatic, economic and security cooperation and would be worth \u00a39 billion to the UK economy by 2040.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will legislate to deliver on this, and further details of the bill will be announced in due course,\u201d the spokesperson said.\n<\/p>\n
Ian Bond, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform think tank, said the impact of the bill would depend on how much freedom the government allows itself.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it holds its nerve, it really doesn\u2019t need to pay attention to these noises,\u201d he said, adding that ministers appeared fearful of provoking criticism from Reform UK if they acted too boldly.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s so-called Brexit wars dominated parliament for years. Now, the Labour government is bracing for new battles as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,527,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,807,528,384,386,16,10051,211516,3106,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-704306","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-conservative-party","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-european","14":"tag-european-union","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-keir-starmer","17":"tag-labour-party","18":"tag-nigel-farage","19":"tag-reform-uk","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-uk-economy","22":"tag-uk-legislation","23":"tag-uk-politics","24":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115916349607011923","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704306","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=704306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}