The Labour government needs to face down Nigel Farage and become more pro-EU or see the UK locked out of European trade schemes, according to a campaign group.
The Rejoin EU party says the EU has blocked a UK bid to join a pan-European trade pact because it is concerned that Labour isn’t doing enough to move closer to Europe.
The European Commission is said to have told the UK government it will not support its joining the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean (PEM) convention because of concerns that it would increase the risk of products unfairly qualifying for low-tariff access to the bloc.
However, a Brussels source has told the Rejoin EU Party that the commission is also reluctant to grant the UK access to such schemes because of polls showing the likelihood of a Reform-led government in four years’ time.
Rejoin EU Party deputy leader and former MEP John Stevens said: “The commission has blocked British access to the PEM, a step which would markedly reduce trade frictions in some of our key supply chains for products such as fruit and veg, amid growing concerns over the prospect of a Reform government.
“A source in Brussels told me that Labour’s internal crisis has convinced the commission that Keir Starmer isn’t doing enough to counter Reform and that the risks of Farage tearing up any such arrangements after the next UK general election are too great to countenance.”
The Rejoin EU Party believes that instead of fighting right-wing populists over issues such as immigration, Sir Keir needs to take the first basic steps to boosting the economy by re-joining the single market and customs union.
“Doing this as soon as possible would quickly ease Labour’s economic problems and plug the £40bn-a year black hole in the government’s finances,” Mr Stevens said.
“It would have the added benefit of neutralising the threat from Farage, who is offering nothing apart from the prospect of the UK becoming a vassal state of Trump’s US and Putin’s Russia.”
source