Keir Starmer branded ‘delusional’ after boasting he would unpick Brexit freedoms if he wins election
SIR Keir Starmer was branded “delusional” last night after boasting he would seek to unpick Brexit freedoms if he wins the keys to No10.
The Labour boss was slammed by both Brexiteers and Brussels watchers after vowing “to get a much better deal for the UK” by 2025 as PM.
The UK’s tariff free, quota free accord drawn up with the EU after Brexit has a technical review that year.
But EU experts said any chance of a major overhaul to the trade terms – without re-joining the Single Market and Customs Union – would be impossible.
Labour have insisted that is not their policy – but instead Sir Keir claimed in interview with the pro-EU Financial Times that he wants a better deal for the sake of his kids.
And he said he was up for years more of testy negotiations with Brussels, claiming: “Almost everyone recognises the deal Johnson struck is not a good deal – it’s far too thin.”
“As we go into 2025 we will attempt to get a much better deal for the UK.
“I do think we can have a closer trading relationship as well. That’s subject to further discussion.”
He added: “I say that as a dad. I’ve got a 15-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl.
“I’m not going to let them grow up in a world where all I’ve got to say to them about their future is, it’s going to be worse than it might otherwise have been.”
But EU expert Wolfgang Münchau of Eurointelligence said: “Keir Starmer’s attempt to rewrite the UK-EU relationship is based on a delusion”.
He added that the idea it was possible to stay out of the Single Market and the Customs Union and achieve a better deal than the one the UK currently has was “a political lie.”
And he warned “It will almost certainly be exposed as such.”
The expert added: “Probably the biggest delusion yet to be unpicked is Starmer’s repeated assertion that a better deal with the EU is available.
“This is simply not true. There was a lot of vindictive commentary from the EU during the entire Brexit process, but the deal that was eventually agreed was a reasonable third-country trade deal.”
And the Tories accused Sir Keir of another flip fop, saying: “Three years ago he promised he wouldn’t seek major changes to the UK’s new relationship with the EU, but now his latest short term position is that he will.
“What price would Keir Starmer be prepared to pay to the EU for renegotiating our relationship?”
But Nigel Farage warned the Tories had not done enough to break away from the EU – meaning it will be easy for Labour to swiftly align on closer terms.
He hit out: “Two years into a Labour government it will be ‘Brexit In Name Only’. “The Tories have made it easy for them by not diverging enough.”