{"id":901880,"date":"2026-04-18T02:30:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T02:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/901880\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T02:30:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T02:30:33","slug":"why-does-keir-starmer-think-its-time-for-closer-eu-ties-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/901880\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Does Keir Starmer Think It’s Time For Closer EU Ties?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keir Starmer <\/a>reopened a dangerous can of worms this week.<\/p>\n

No, not the Peter Mandelson<\/a> saga, but the UK\u2019s ties with the EU<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the government says it does not want to undo Brexit \u2013 as Labour\u2019s political opponents claim \u2013 the prime minister made it clear he \u201cstrongly believes the UK\u2019s best interests are in a stronger, closer relationship with Europe<\/a>\u201d on Monday.<\/p>\n

His remarks came after chancellor Rachel Reeves <\/a>revealed she would be open to working with the EU if it boosts economic<\/a> growth or helps the UK\u2019s \u201csecurity and resilience\u201d.<\/p>\n

These comments raised eyebrows among critics, especially as MPs will soon vote on the government\u2019s UK-EU reset bill after it\u2019s unveiled in the King\u2019s Speech on May 13.<\/p>\n

Acting on the prime minister\u2019s orders, the monarch will set out the government\u2019s plans for the coming parliamentary session.<\/p>\n

Labour<\/a> has long pledged to \u201creset\u201d Britain\u2019s relationship with the EU after Boris Johnson\u2019s trade deal made<\/a> it harder to import and export to and from the UK\u2019s nearest neighbours.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> war in Iran<\/a> has rocked the international economy<\/a> by threatening global oil supplies \u2013 and raised significant fears<\/a> about the UK\u2019s depleted defences in the process.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cNobody I know who voted for Brexit voted to make themselves and their community poorer\u201d<\/p>\n

– Steve Reed, housing secretary<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The president has also been attacking Britain, even threatening<\/a> to rip up the UK-US trade deal, after Starmer chose not to join Trump\u2019s offensives against Iran.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s rather timely that the new reset bill will grant the government new powers to align the UK with parts of the EU to make trading with the bloc easier, a move ministers hope will ease cost of living pressures.<\/p>\n

But it won\u2019t be plain-sailing for Starmer. While MPs will vote on the overall bill, the \u201csecondary legislation\u201d within the bill will bypass a Commons vote.<\/p>\n

That means parliamentarians will not be able to have their say when the government chooses to line up with EU laws around certain trade sectors. <\/p>\n

Brexiters will be especially infuriated because, being outside of the EU, the UK cannot even have a say on making these laws anymore.<\/p>\n

But ministers are becoming increasingly outspoken in their attacks on Brexit \u2013 and evidently happy to take on that fight.<\/p>\n

Housing secretary Steve Reed told HuffPost UK: \u201cBrexit \u2013 Tory Brexit \u2013 led to a collapse in UK exports of one-fifth. We\u2019ve lost jobs, we\u2019ve lost investment, people have lost wages. We need to grow the economy if we want to put money back in people\u2019s pockets, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

He insisted Labour respects the referendum result, while acknowledging that \u201cnobody I know who voted for Brexit voted to make themselves and their community poorer\u201d.<\/p>\n

Reed\u2019s sentiments appear to reflect voters\u2019 changing feelings towards Brexit, according to new polling from the More in Common <\/a>think tank.<\/p>\n

It found the Remain camp would win with 65% of the vote if another EU referendum were held today, while just over a quarter would vote Leave.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Naomi Smith, Chief Executive of Best for Britain, which campaigns to strengthen UK-EU ties, said their polling has similar results.<\/p>\n

\u201cLabour is shedding far more of its support to the left than the right,\u201d she said, analysis the party\u2019s vote share ahead of the May elections where the party is expected to lose a shocking number of seats.<\/p>\n

\u201cA far closer relationship with Europe \u2013 delivered with the urgency the moment demands \u2013 is the key policy area uniting the majority of voters Labour is currently hemorrhaging.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this pro-EU shift will come at a cost.<\/p>\n

Joe Meighan, a policy adviser from the pro-EU think tank the European Movement, said Starmer \u201cneeds to confront what it means for Labour\u2019s red lines\u201d if he wants closer ties with the union.<\/p>\n

Labour promised in the run-up to the 2024 general election that rejoining the Single Market is a red line.<\/p>\n

Meighan said: \u201cNo business would decide to distance itself from its best customer. The impact of doing so is written across our entire economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cFood and drink exports to the EU were 31% lower in 2025 than in 2019. At least 4% of our GDP has been lost.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnergy bills are higher, young people are trapped, our international clout has dwindled.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, he added: \u201cIn this new reality, Labour cannot go on treating its own Brexit red lines as untouchable.\u201c<\/p>\n

We look at the risks the government is taking by reviving the Brexit rows in this week\u2019s Commons People, complete with extracts from our interview with Reed<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Subscribe to Commons People<\/a>, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week\u2019s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what\u2019s going on at Westminster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keir Starmer reopened a dangerous can of worms this week. No, not the Peter Mandelson saga, but the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,253701,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,807,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-901880","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-commons-people","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-european","14":"tag-european-union","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-keir-starmer","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116423362114377456","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901880","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=901880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}