Keir Starmer’s just sold out Brexit – his latest move gives 80m people a pass into the UK
Brits should be worried about a full-blown betrayal being cooked up in the corridors of Whitehall, writes Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice
Sir Keir Starmer is looking for ‘multiple ways’ for Britain to get closer to the EU (Image: Getty)
It’s no surprise that the man who campaigned not only for Britain to remain in the European Union during the 2016 referendum, but subsequently spent years attempting to overturn the democratic vote of 17.4million people, continues on his warpath to bring Britain back into Brussels’ orbit now that he has the keys to No 10.
In fact, Keir Starmer’s entire Cabinet is stacked to the brim with dyed-in-the-wool Remainers. Many of them strongly advocated for the Brexit vote to be blocked in Parliament. So when the Prime Minister admits that he is looking at “multiple ways” for Britain to get closer to the EU, Brits will be rightly worried that a full-blown betrayal is being cooked up in the corridors of Whitehall.
This weekend, Starmer doubled down on his keenness to see Britain back under the thumb of eurocrats in Brussels, suggesting that Labour could force Britain back into the EU single market, inextricably tying our economy with the failing economic model of Europe.
Let’s not forget that simply rejoining the single market means Britain would have to hand over our hard-won sovereignty, accept freedom of movement, and shackle ourselves to the EU’s stagnant and over-regulated economy.
One of the core four freedoms – as the EU describes it – and a prerequisite of joining the single market is freedom of movement.
A return to the single market would not just be a historic betrayal of the 2016 vote, but would also shatter Labour’s clear and unambiguous election pledge that, under a Labour government, Britain would never accept freedom of movement.
Yet, Labour’s actions are those of a party that has an uncompromising ideological obsession with open borders. Their uncapped proposals for a UK-EU youth mobility scheme could mean that 80million Europeans would qualify for British visas – rising to a potential 150million if candidate countries such as Albania join the bloc.
Aside from completely shattering what little trust the public has left in this Government, tying our economy to that of Germany – which is in the thralls of a multi-year recession – and France, which has gone through five prime ministers in just two years, would be economic and political suicide.
Let me be clear: if the Prime Minister’s ultimate aim is to return us to the flailing EU club, Reform UK is ready to hold him to account. The British people deserve to have their democratic will respected – not undermined.
Richard Tice is Reform UK’s deputy leader
