{"id":10823,"date":"2016-12-13T18:48:48","date_gmt":"2016-12-13T18:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=10823"},"modified":"2016-12-13T18:48:48","modified_gmt":"2016-12-13T18:48:48","slug":"brexit-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=10823","title":{"rendered":"Brexit battle"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Labour will fight for a Brexit which delivers \u00e2\u20ac\u015bstrong relations\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 with the EU and preserves the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to trade in goods and services with the continent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a major speech in London, Keir Starmer MP, the shadow secretary for leaving the European Union, said there was now a battle between competing visions of Brexit which would shape the future of this country.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In choosing the same stage, at Bloomberg HQ, where in 2013 David Cameron announced his intention to hold an EU referendum Starmer sought to make it clear that Labour intended to be front and centre in the fight for what shadow chancellor, John McDonnell MP, has described as \u00e2\u20ac\u015ba people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Brexit\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Starmer criticised\u00c2\u00a0former Tory Prime Minister, David Cameron,\u00c2\u00a0for \u00e2\u20ac\u015bputting short term political decisions ahead of the national interest\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and overseeing \u00e2\u20ac\u015bone of the greatest derelictions of duty of a British government in modern times\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, in failing to plan for Brexit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s successor \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Theresa May \u00e2\u20ac\u201c was also in his sights. Mrs May had \u00e2\u20ac\u015bset aside the national interest\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and was serving only one side of the debate in \u00e2\u20ac\u015ba double dereliction of duty.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Labour, in contract, would seek to speak for the whole country, and fight \u00e2\u20ac\u015bhard Brexit\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His vision was of exiting the EU but building what he called \u00e2\u20ac\u015bstrong relations with our EU partners based on the principles of co-operation, collaboration and mutual benefit. A future which preserves our ability to trade in goods and services with our biggest market.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Economy and jobs<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Starmer added that the UK could not be left \u00e2\u20ac\u015bstanding outside and shut off from the European market of 500m people who could buy our products and our services\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, and there could be no \u00e2\u20ac\u015bglobal race to the bottom which would not only put our economy and jobs at risk.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Brexit model Labour would pursue, he said, could be boiled down to one which \u00e2\u20ac\u015bmaintains and protects our ability to successfully to trade goods and deliver services with and to the EU.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In essence this would mean a number of things – \u00e2\u20ac\u015bcontinued tariff-free trade for UK businesses with the EU; a model that ensures that any new regulatory frameworks do not add bureaucratic burdens or risk harmful divergence from the EU market, a model that protects competitiveness of our services and manufacturing and a model that ensures that existing protections at work provided by the EU are maintained.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The other major plank of the speech, reflecting the wider debate on what Brexit really shapes up like, was on immigration.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Starmer, who for a time was shadow immigration minister, said \u00e2\u20ac\u015bno comprehensive approach to Brexit or response to the referendum result can ignore the issues of freedom of movement.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Setting out his thinking he quoted Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey, \u00c2\u00a0as recently saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthere is no doubt that concerns about the impact of the free movement played a significant part in the referendum, particularly in working class communities\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6we are past the point where [this] can be ignored.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bold and ambitious<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

Labour now had to formulate what Starmer called a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bbold and ambitious response\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 to this challenge. The thrust of it would be a new relationship with the EU \u00e2\u20ac\u015bbased on fair migration and reasonable management of migration.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pointedly he suggested that it would be a good thing if Brexit led the UK to confront \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe appalling and enduring skills gap\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 while also dealing with \u00e2\u20ac\u015blow pay exploitation.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His overall approach may be best summed up as an argument for a progressive Brexit in the national interest with jobs, trade and living standards high on the agenda.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

However, as Starmer pointed out, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe status quo is not an option.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Labour will fight for a Brexit which delivers \u00e2\u20ac\u015bstrong relations\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 with the EU and preserves the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to trade in goods and services with the continent.   In a major speech in London, Keir Starmer MP, the shadow secretary for leaving the European Union, said there was now a battle between competing visions of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10828,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[486,210],"wps_subtitle":"Starmer: 'Status quo not an option' ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10823"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10823"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10830,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10823\/revisions\/10830"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}