19 January 2023

FT: Starmer to tell Davos he wants to fix post-Brexit relationship with EU

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will on Thursday tell the world’s financial elite in Davos that he wants to improve Britain’s relations with the EU, declaring the post-Brexit trade deal is damaging the UK economy “as every day passes”.

Starmer and Rachel Reeves, shadow finance minister, told the Financial Times they would rebuild the UK economy “on the rock of fiscal and financial responsibility” and through closer trade with the EU. The leader of the opposition has ruled out taking Britain back into the EU or the single market but said the Brexit deal negotiated by former prime minister Boris Johnson in 2019 was deeply flawed. “It isn’t half baked. It isn’t baked. It didn’t work.”

Starmer will travel with Reeves as “ambassadors for the UK” to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, in an example of Labour’s embrace of global capitalism. They also want to present a more optimistic vision for a country hit by strikes and sluggish growth. Opinion polls have for several months had Labour well in front of the ruling Conservatives, ahead of an election expected next year.

Five years ago John McDonnell, the then shadow chancellor under leftwing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, went to Davos to tell bankers and bosses they were facing an “avalanche of discontent and resentment”. By contrast, Starmer and Reeves will meet some of the titans of global finance, including senior executives from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and BlackRock during their visit to the Swiss resort.

 In a joint interview with the FT in the Labour leader’s Westminster office, Starmer and Reeves berated Rishi Sunak, prime minister, for not going to Davos this year and said they would be touting for investment. Key for Starmer is revamping Britain’s post-Brexit EU relationship.

The government’s own forecasters say that Johnson’s “bare bones” trade deal with the EU would cost the UK 4 per cent of gross domestic product in the medium term. “The damage to our economy is obvious as every day passes,” he said. “We have to be clear that we want a closer trading relationship with the EU.” Labour has already said it wants a veterinary deal with the EU to ease the most strenuous border checks on food. The Labour leader said he would not take Britain back into the EU or the single market; he fears alienating the 30 per cent of his party’s supporters who backed Leave in 2016 and reopening old arguments. ...

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