Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to seek major changes to the Brexit deal in 2025 if Labor wins the next general election, saying he has a duty to rebuild the relationship with the EU for the sake of his children.
Starmer told the Financial Times that he would put closer trading ties with Brussels and new partnerships with business at the heart of his efforts to boost Britain’s economic growth.
The UK-EU trade and cooperation agreement negotiated by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to be reviewed in 2025, and Starmer said he believed it was an “important” moment to reset the relationship.
“Almost everyone recognizes that the deal Johnson struck was not a good deal – it was too weak,” he said in an interview. “As we go into 2025, we will be working hard to get a better deal for the UK.”
Starmer was speaking at a conference of centre-left leaders in Montreal. The visit is part of the Labor leader’s efforts to showcase himself as prime minister-elect, with his party currently polling 15 to 20 points ahead of the ruling Conservatives.
He held talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday and will travel to Paris on Tuesday for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, where post-Brexit relations will be a focus.
Starmer has said he wants to improve the Brexit deal through a veterinary deal with the EU that would reduce onerous border checks on animals and food, as well as a deal recognizing professional qualifications.
“I think there’s more to achieve across the board,” he said in a speech on the sidelines of the Global Progressive Action conference this weekend.
He spoke of closer ties in areas such as security, innovation and research; some Labor figures discussed efforts to improve youth mobility and closer energy cooperation. But Starmer reiterated his decision to rule out rejoining the customs union, the single market or the EU itself.
Asked whether he would seek to remove friction from other forms of trade, he said: “I do think we can also have closer trade relationships. That remains to be discussed further.”
It is unclear whether the EU is willing to renegotiate the trade deal, which only comes into force in 2021, especially if it involves the UK selectively choosing only parts of the single market. Many in Brussels believe the 2025 review will be just a clean-up exercise.
But Starmer said: “We have to make it work. It’s not a question of going back. But I refuse to accept that we can’t make it work. When I say that, I think of those descendants.
“I say this as a father. I have a 15-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl. I would not let them grow up in a world where all I can say to them about their future is that things will be better than they otherwise might be. The situation is even worse. I am absolutely determined to get this job done.”
Separately, Starmer said his plans to fund the party’s wider economic plans would not call for new taxes on the rich.
“We haven’t had significant growth in 13 years,” he said. “We have to reverse this. Making taxation instead of growth the priority is a principled mistake.”
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