Labour ministers and MPs jubilant at Starmer’s ‘Brexit betrayal’ after PM seeks nearer ties to the EU single market ‘within the nationwide curiosity’

Senior Labour figured have reacted with joy after Sir Keir Starmer signalled his biggest Brexit reversal to date.

The Prime Minister yesterday said he would be willing to align the UK with Brussels’ single market ‘in the national interest’, despite a Labour manifesto vow not to.

At the same time Sir Keir insisted he would not allow a return to reciprocal freedom of movement of people between the UK and EU, despite it being a key tenet of the scheme.

Opposition leaders including Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage vowed to fight any attempt to unravel the agreement made in 2019, with the Reform leader branding it a ‘a breach of good faith with Labour voters’.

But Pro-EU Labour figures were jubilant. In response to Mr Farage Trade Minister Chris Bryant said: ‘If memory serves me, most of those who argued for Brexit said ”of course we wouldn’t leave the single market”.

And Oliver Ryan, the MP for Burnley, said: ‘I’m yet to speak to an exporting mass-employing business in my constituency who doesn’t want this done urgently! 

‘Absolutely the right thing to do.’

Luke Charters, the MP for York Outer, added: The PM is absolutely right to consider this. 

‘People want a cheaper weekly shop and fewer barriers to running their businesses. Not the tired old Brexit theatrics pushed by Farage and co.

‘If closer alignment with the Single Market helps deliver that, it’s a no-brainer.’

Pro-EU Labour figures were jubilant after the PM’s words in a BBC interview

Sir Keir told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: ‘I think we should get closer, and if it’s in our national interest to have even closer alignment with the single market, then we should consider that, we should go that far.

‘We’re already aligning on energy, reconnecting to energy in Europe on emissions, but I think the single market further alignment, as I say, if it’s in our interest to do so, we should take that step.’

Sir Keir did appear to pour cold water on suggestions the UK should re-join a customs union with the bloc after his Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the arrangement had ‘enormous economic benefits’. 

Asked whether he would be willing to revisit freedom of movement, allowing EU citizens with no limit to come to the UK, he said: ‘No, but we are looking at a youth mobility scheme which will be for young people to travel, to work, to enjoy themselves in different European countries, to have that experience.’

He also lashed out at ‘the falsehoods peddled by Nigel Farage and others’ during the Brexit referendum in 2016 and insisted his Government was ‘quietly, seriously getting on with diplomacy’ instead of ‘the politics of melodrama’.

But Mrs Badenoch suggested his backtracking showed his precarious position in the opinion polls.

‘It is a sign of Keir Starmer’s total weakness that he has started the year trying to reopen the old Brexit wounds,’ the Conservative leader said.

‘Instead of signing Britain up to EU rules we have no say over, Starmer should focus on cutting spending, cutting taxes, bringing down the benefits bill and getting Britain working again.’

Mrs Badenoch suggested Sir Keir’s backtracking showed his precarious position in the opinion polls

Mr Farage added: ‘Starmer’s Brexit betrayal is a breach of good faith with Labour voters’

Mr Farage added: ‘Starmer’s Brexit betrayal is a breach of good faith with Labour voters.

‘His tying of us to crazy EU Net Zero policies and carbon taxes will continue the de-industrialisation of the UK and increase the cost of living. We will fight Starmer every step of the way.’

The Liberal Democrats said the Government had been ‘too timid’ in its ambitions for closer ties with Brussels and was merely ‘tinkering around the edges’ as they reiterated calls for a UK-EU customs union.

Party leader Sir Ed Davey said: ‘This year, the Prime Minister must finally get a grip on the cost-of-living crisis by negotiating an EU-UK customs union, to boost growth and put money back in people’s pockets.’