{"id":981104,"date":"2026-05-24T03:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T03:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/981104\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T03:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T03:23:08","slug":"brexit-is-already-dominating-the-battle-to-replace-keir-starmer-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/981104\/","title":{"rendered":"Brexit is already dominating the battle to replace Keir Starmer \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cMany businesses are saying that it\u2019s been a challenge, that Brexit and the way in which it was implemented has challenged their ability to be competitive to get access to the EU market and therefore we should be addressing those challenges not going back to the old argument [of] are we in or out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

That position hasn\u2019t stopped her blasting Farage over the decision to leave, accusing<\/a> the Reform UK leader of having promised \u201cthe moon on a stick.\u201d She\u2019s also declared that \u201cwhen we left the European Union people were promised more money into the NHS, your living standards will be better \u2014\u00a0and the opposite has happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keir Starmer<\/strong><\/p>\n

What about the man himself? Starmer\u2019s position on the EU has shifted several times already. Running for leader in 2019, he pledged to defend the free movement of people. Then, in opposition, he made it a red line, along with staying out of the EU\u2019s customs union and single market. Before taking power, he talked about Brexit as little as possible.<\/p>\n

In office, he\u2019s arguably shifted again \u2014 making a closer relationship with Europe a defining feature of his stalling premiership.<\/p>\n

\"\"Labour MP Angela Rayner attends the National Growth Debate at the Institute of Directors in London on April 21, 2026. | Carl Court\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

His current program is to align the U.K. with EU rules in specific sectors of the economy, hoping that it brings trade and economic benefits. An agri-food deal and electricity trading pact are currently being negotiated with Brussels, with talks expected to expand to other areas in the summer.<\/p>\n

While free movement is off the table for Starmer, he\u2019s rejoined the Erasmus+ exchange scheme and is pledging to introduce a youth mobility agreement, albeit with a cap on the number of people who can benefit.<\/p>\n

For now, the big red lines on the single market and customs union stay. But Starmer last week hinted that he could drop them<\/a> from Labour\u2019s manifesto at the next general election, which is still three years away.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also coming under pressure from some within his party to ditch them sooner \u2014 pressure which will likely build on anyone who ousts him, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cMany businesses are saying that it\u2019s been a challenge, that Brexit and the way in which it was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":981105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5226],"tags":[8916,9311,802,748,6852,33,1312,393,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,807,2441,25809,384,5111,48,6861,1200,1201,16,15,771,3595,50],"class_list":["post-981104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brexit","tag-andy-burnham","tag-angela-rayner","tag-brexit","tag-britain","tag-customs-union","tag-elections","tag-electricity","tag-england","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-union","tag-great-britain","tag-keir-starmer","tag-markets","tag-mayors","tag-nigel-farage","tag-parliament","tag-rights","tag-single-market","tag-tax","tag-trade","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-war","tag-wes-streeting","tag-youth"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116627414740238829","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981104","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=981104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/981105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=981104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=981104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=981104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}