‘We can’t go back’, insists Keir Starmer on Brexit – but says we can ‘get a better deal with EU’ if he wins Election
KEIR Starmer has insisted “we can’t go back” on Brexit – but has claimed we can “get a better deal with the EU” if he wins the upcoming election.
Tonight’s episode sees The Sun’s Political Editor Harry Cole grill Sir Keir ahead of a crucial election year.
Asked whether he wished we were still in the EU, the Labour leader declined to answer – pointing to the fact he voted remain.
In the show – which you can watch on thesun.co.uk and The Sun’s YouTube channel – Starmer said: “I voted for remain. I wanted us to remain.
“The country voted out and that’s why after the last election in 2019, I voted for the Brexit deal and we are now out. We are not going back in.
“But I think that we all have to recognise that, you know, the economy is not in a good place, public services are not in a good place.”
Keir Starmer’s biggest U-turns
MAN OF MANY FACES
Sir Keir Starmer has become known as a major flip-flopper since he became leader of the Labour Party.
Here The Sun takes a look at some of his most blatant U-turns.
BREXIT
Sir Keir spent the entire 2017 parliament trying to reverse Brexit.
When he ran as Labour leader in 2020, Sir Keir did not repeat his call for a second referendum on Brexit, but he did endorse freedom of movement. After becoming leader, he said he would not cross the red line of accepting freedom of movement for EU citizens under any future negotiation of post-Brexit trading arrangements with Brussels. He has however pledged a closer trading relationship with Brussels.
NATIONALISATION
When he ran for the Labour leadership, Sir Keir vowed to bring public services, including rail, mail, energy and water, into “common ownership”.
But the pledge didn’t last long. As early as September 2021, he ruled out nationalising the six big energy companies and in July 2022, shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves ditched the commitment to nationalise more public services in one fell swoop.
The party still intends to bring train operators into public ownership but only when current franchises expire.
OUTSOURCING
One of Sir Keir’s other leadership pledges included putting an end the involvement of the private sector in the NHS. Again, it didn’t last long as it was dropped in the summer of 2022, with Sir Keir saying the party would have to continue with some level or private provision in the health service.
TUITION FEES
Sir Keir promised he would end the “national scandal” of student debt by abolishing tuition fees in 2020.
Changing his stance, he said the country found itself in a “different financial situation”.
GREEN PROSPERITY PLAN
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves vowed to invest £28 billion a year on green projects when she addressed the first in-person conference under Sir Keir back in 2021.
But in one of the most screeching U-turns, Labour announced in February it would spend just over £4.7bn a year.
Sir Keir spent the entire 2017 parliament trying to reverse Brexit.
When he ran as Labour leader in 2020, Sir Keir did not repeat his call for a second referendum on Brexit, but he did endorse freedom of movement.
After becoming leader, he said he would not cross the red line of accepting freedom of movement for EU citizens under any future negotiation of post-Brexit trading arrangements with Brussels.
He has however pledged a closer trading relationship with Brussels.
On tonight’s show, Starmer said “no” to free movement, “no” to the customs union and “no” to the single market.
But he STILL insisted he could get a better deal, adding: “I think we have to cast our minds back, the country was completely divided, we had three years of arguments, of different positions, the Tory party was divided, my party was divided and the country was divided. And we were all trying to find a way forward.
“We voted through the Brexit deal after the last General Election. I did that because I thought it was the only way for the country to move forward.
“I still think we could get a better deal, I think we should be able to trade more freely with Europe, I think we should have a closer defence and security set of arrangements with Europe, but I have completely accepted the result.
“I voted for the Brexit deal. We need to look forward, and certainly not look backwards. I don’t think anyone wants to go back.”
The Labour Leader revealed he had big plans to “fix the country” in the coming decade.
In a wide-ranging interview, Keir also:
- Vowed to protect Britain’s hardest workers from tax rises
- Refused to commit to the triple pensions lock for five year
- Insisted we ‘can’t go back’ on Brexit but wants a ‘better deal’
- Revealed he was paid to defend terrorists including Hizb ut-Tahrir
- Refused eight times to deny he took drugs when he was younger
- Squirmed as he answered Sun readers’ quickfire questions
- Blasted Boris Johnson for ‘smearing’ him over Jimmy Savile case
- Condemned Tories’ Rwanda plan as an ‘expensive gimmick’
“And my job is to fix the country up, fix the immediate problems and take our country forward”, he added.
“So we can genuinely say after five or 10 years this country is now better than it was in 2024 when we were elected into office, if we are elected into office.”
When the Sun’s Harry Cole quizzed Starmer on how Brits can trust him after his support for Jeremy Corbyn in 2019, Starmer said: “I didn’t think we’d win the 2019 election, I didn’t think we were ready.
“Now we’re at the stage we are in 2024 when I can see what it means to be ready for an election or ready for government.
“I see it more clearly how we weren’t ready in 2019.”
He added: “I was standing for an election as a Labour candidate, just as every Tory was standing supporting Boris Johnson whether they actually supported him or not.”
In the show, Starmer also laid into Nike’s decision to change the flag on the back of the shirt.
Nike and England have ditched the traditional red and white cross on the collar – and replaced it with navy, blue and purple stripes.
US manufacturer Nike insisted the “playful update” was meant to “unite and inspire” fans for the Euro 2024 tournament – but the move has been slammed.
Sir Keir said the original colours were “unifying” – and called the St George’s “something to be proud of”.
He said: “Yeah it was. I’m a big football fan, I go to England games, men, women’s games.
“And the flag is used by everybody, it’s unifying, it doesn’t need to change.
“We just need to be proud of it. So I think they should just reconsider this and change it back.”
And he also added that the shirts – which are retailing at £124.99 for adults and a whopping £119.99 for children – should have their prices reduced.
The Labour leader continued: “I’m not even sure they can properly explain why they thought they needed to change in the first place.
“They could also reduce the price of the shirts.”
The Three Lions’ strips were unveiled on Monday with the traditional red cross altered to one with navy, light blue and purple.
It is thought to be a nod to the 1966 World Cup winners’ training kit – which contained blue, red and purple.
But the change led to some labelling the shirt “woke” as they called on the manufacturer to revert back to the usual colours.
During the exclusive chat, Sir Keir also revealed his favourite crisps flavour was Salt and Vinegar.
And he also spoke about his go-to Curry order, saying: “Welll I’m vegetarian, so chana masala, vegetable curries… something like that.
“We share it (the curry). My wife’s vegetarian. My daughter’s vegetarian.
“Our son is not a vegetarian because when he was 10, we said you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.
“So he’ll have a lovely chicken curry alongside our vegetable curries.”
KEIR STARMER’S RISE
Sir Keir Starmer almost quit after the crushing defeat in the Hartlepool by-election in 2021, according to a new biography of the Labour leader.
Three years later, the former director of public prosecutions looks likely to be the next prime minister.
Obviously, the job is not in the bag until all the votes are declared but the odds are undeniably in his favour after a series of by-election triumphs and a sustained and significant lead over the Tories in the polls.
But how did the London-born lawyer manage to get there? Apart from the obvious luck of finding himself as Opposition chief at a time when the Tories are doing themselves no favours.
Many, Sir Keir included, would be quick to point to the change he brought about, including a shift from the left to the right.
Despite serving in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet for several years, the Labour Party of 2024 looks very different to the one that suffered its worst defeat in 84 years back in 2019.
Sir Keir was ruthless in distancing the party from his predecessor – and even swiftly suspended Mr Corbyn after he claimed that antisemitism within Labour had been “dramatically overstated for political reasons” in response to a damning report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
He also made major constitutional changes to the Labour Party rulebook – which infuriated the left.
And despite leaving him open to accusations of being a major flip-flopper, he dropped several policy pledges made during his leadership campaign, including ending outsourcing in the NHS.
The team of people around him also looks unrecognisable from just a few years back.
In the last reshuffle, Sir Keir promoted a handful of Blairites to the shadow cabinet and his squad of advisers now includes the likes of former civil servant and Partygate interrogator Sue Gray.
While so far the Labour leader has been unwilling to set out any clear policies, it is evident the party is no longer scared to take on issues that were once traditionally seen as weak points for the party. Some of these include the economy and illegal migration. Many would also say his leadership has been instrumental in fostering a sense of unity within party – but perhaps when things go well, it is not that difficult to get along.