Why Keir Starmer and Labour still have a Brexit problem

The once-ardent Remainer says it’s time to embrace the ‘opportunities’ from Britain’s exit. Adam Forrest looks at the pitfalls in Starmer’s awkward position

Keir Starmer (PA)

Keir Starmer must dearly wish that Brexit was done, dusted and packed up in a file of old documents analysing what went wrong for Labour at the 2019 general election.

But Brexit remains undone. The messy consequences of our exit from the EU are only starting to unravel. And unfortunately for the Labour leader, it will still be an issue at the next general election.

Uncertainty hovers over our trading relationship with the bloc, as the protocol row rumbles on and businesses try to survive red tape disruption. Questions about the downsides of post-Brexit trade deals and the impact of Britain’s export slump will only grow louder in the months ahead.

Starmer – a key Remainer voice from 2016 to 2019 – says he simply wants to make Brexit “work”. Yet the angry backlash sparked by his latest Brexit comments show it won’t be possible for him to magic the issue away with such a vague promise.

On Monday he ruled out the idea that his party could campaign for Britain to re-join the EU, the single market or the customs union – forcefully restating Labour’s position was that there is no turning back.

“We’ve exited the EU and we’re not going back. Let me very clear in the northeast about that. There is no case for re-joining,” Starmer told BBC Radio Newcastle on a trip to staunch Leave-voting territory.

More tellingly, Starmer told the station: “I want to make it work. I want to make sure we take advantage of the opportunities, and that we have a clear plan for Brexit.”

Whether conscious or not, it was a striking adoption of the language used by Jacob Rees-Mogg – our new minister for Brexit opportunities – who claimed at the weekend that the “big wins” of Brexit are “coming soon” (only six years after the referendum).

Is it tenable too for both main parties to ignore the reality of ongoing Brexit problems? Is it tenable for both main parties to talk only positively about “opportunities” ahead? Won’t voters consider it absurd as economic problems hit home?

Starmer has his eye on red wall seats in the north and Midlands lost to Boris Johnson in 2019. He is understandably reluctant to give the prime minister the opportunity to paint him as a bitter Remainer always banging on about Brexit.

But Labour’s reluctance to address the issues poses risks for the seats elsewhere.

There are plenty of passionate Remain voters across England and Wales who may come to feel Labour is taking them for granted – and look to the Lib Dems instead. Labour’s “let’s move on” Brexit position has little appeal in Scotland, where the party remains desperate to claw back some seats.

Trying to draw a line under Brexit over the past two years may have bought Starmer more a fair hearing from some of the traditionally Labour-voting Leavers who deserted the party last time out. Yet continuing to ignore Brexit issues over the next two years may not impress them very much.

With the cost of living crisis set to intensify, and an election drawing closer, voters will want to know what Labour would do to fix the big economic problems. And almost all the big economic problems involve Brexit.

So the head in the sand approach is unlikely to work for much longer. Starmer may have to pull down those dusty old Brexit analysis documents, cram up on current problems, and start to offer clear alternatives to Tory triumphalism about blue passports and crown stamps on pint glasses.