{"id":711486,"date":"2026-01-21T20:03:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T20:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/711486\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T20:03:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T20:03:12","slug":"labour-in-fresh-chaos-over-brexit-as-minister-backs-customs-union-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/711486\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour in fresh chaos over Brexit as minister backs customs union | Politics | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Labour<\/a>‘s push to row back on Brexit was plunged into fresh chaos today as a minister insisted Britain would be “crazy” not to look at a customs union with the EU. Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle said a “gentle debate” was needed on the “best opportunities” for the economy post-Brexit.<\/p>\n

But his comments come a day after Chancellor Rachel Reeves<\/a> ruled out the move. In an interview with CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Kyle said: “When it comes to the customs union, you know, we need to be having these conversations as a country about where is the best anchor, what is the best opportunities for Britain’s economy post-Brexit<\/a>. Now, of course, it would be crazy not to engage with the prospect of a customs union.”<\/p>\n

But Mr Kyle insisted that any change would be part of a longer-term process.<\/p>\n

He added: “Let’s be clear, it took Turkey 20 years to join the customs union.<\/p>\n

“It took four years for us to leave the customs union. I am focusing on what it takes to get growth into the economy now.<\/p>\n

“And of course, this is a gentle debate, whereas the debate of the Brexit years ripped our country apart. We are now back together as a country, and we’ve got stable Government with a 10-year industrial strategy.”<\/p>\n

And he dismissed suggestions that Sir Keir Starmer<\/a> had lost control of his Cabinet over the issue.<\/p>\n

Mr Kyle had said earlier this week that it would be “foolish” to pursue a customs union with the EU.<\/p>\n

He told the Financial Times: “When it comes to a customs union, I understand why Lib Dem utopianism is so seductive.<\/p>\n

“It took us four years to leave the customs union. Do people really think we can join the customs union quicker than it took to leave the customs union?”<\/p>\n

He added: “I think at the moment it would be foolish to slip towards what would be simple solutions.”<\/p>\n

It comes as Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and Wes Streeting have both hinted at their support for joining a customs union with Brussels.<\/p>\n

But the change is among Sir Keir Starmer’s “red lines” which also rule out rejoining the single market and returning to free movement.<\/p>\n

The Lib Dems, who have long called for the UK to rejoin a customs union with the bloc, accused the Government of being “all over the place” on the issue.<\/p>\n

The party’s Europe spokesman Al Pinkerton said: “Peter Kyle hasn’t just contradicted his Cabinet colleagues, he’s contradicted himself just 24 hours ago The Labour front bench is all over the place on the customs union.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Labour‘s push to row back on Brexit was plunged into fresh chaos today as a minister insisted Britain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,5322,748,6852,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,180938,213129,60394,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-711486","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-brexit-news","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-customs-union","12":"tag-eu","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-european","15":"tag-european-union","16":"tag-great-britain","17":"tag-keir-starmer-brexit","18":"tag-labour-brexit","19":"tag-peter-kyle","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115934881865949434","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711486","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=711486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}