Labor has no intention of re-entering the EU, says Keir Starmer, after claiming Brexit is at risk

Labor has no intention of joining the EU, Sir Keir Starmer has said, after Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch claimed Brexit would be at risk if she became prime minister.

She described Brexit as a “10 or 20-year project” in an interview with The Telegraph newspaper and argued that any benefits would disappear under a Labor government.

But Sir Keir ruled out joining the EU while speaking to reporters during a campaign visit to south London.

“We are not re-entering the EU, we are not re-entering the single market or the customs union,” said the Labor leader.

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Asked if he would ever reconsider this, Sir Keir added: “No. It’s not our plan, it never was, we never said that as leader of the Labor Party and it’s not in our manifesto.”

He said he wanted a better trade relationship with the EU and “much more collaboration” in research and development, education, security and other areas, adding that everything was subject to negotiations.

“But I think we can get a better deal with the EU, and if we’re elected to government, that’s what we’ll try to do,” he said.

Asked by the AP news agency about support for EU membership among young people who did not get to vote in the referendum, Sir Keir said it was the “nature” of a one-off referendum that only the electorate at the time was in a position to do take part

He added: “I would also say this, I voted to remain. I campaigned to remain. But what that referendum did was throw politics into turmoil for three years, between 2016 and 2019 our Parliament could not does nothing.

“It’s caused tremendous uncertainty, and I don’t think going back to that kind of division and uncertainty is actually going to help us rebuild our economy, rebuild our country, grow the wealth and create the wealth that we need or the secure jobs of future.”

The Brexit referendum took place eight years ago on 23 June 2016.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Ms Badenoch countered criticism of the progress made since then on leaving the EU.

She said: “This is a 10 or 20 year project. I just started.

“It’s like building a house and someone comes in and says ‘oh, it’s not finished yet, it’s failed.’ Or you cook something and five minutes later “it’s not cooked yet, it’s not working, let’s stop”.

She argued that the Tories were trying to focus on a strategy to get benefits from Brexit, adding: “This is something that will disappear if Labor comes in, they will take us back. They will take us back to square one. I just am. we will copy the EU”.