In a sign that the campaign for Britain’s next general election has really begun, Keir Starmer, the Labor leader, the leader of the UK’s first opposition party, is making an international appearance that he has carefully avoided until now.
He was in The Hague on September 14 to speak with representatives of the anti-crime agency Europol. He then flew to Montreal, Canada, where he took part in last weekend’s Social Democratic Leaders’ Conference, during which he met Finland’s Sanna Marin and Barack Obama, and met face-to-face with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The 61-year-old former attorney general for England and Wales was due to be in Paris on Tuesday September 19 for an interview with Emmanuel Macron.
Methodical and cautious, Keir Starmer, who since taking the reins of Labor in April 2020 has managed to neutralize the left of the party and enjoys a lead of at least 15 points in the polls, also dares to address subjects that were previously considered too risky. Its strategists because they were too disruptive to British public opinion: migration and the relationship with the EU. From Montreal, he promised that if his party wins the election (which is likely to be held in the fall of 2024), he will launch “The Great Renegotiation” The signing of a post-Brexit trade agreement between Boris Johnson and European Union (EU) representatives at the end of 2020.
No reintegration into the single market
in the interview Financial TimesKeir Starmer claims: “This agreement that Mr. Johnson negotiated is not good, it is too narrow. (…) We need to do better, I speak as a father of a 15 year old boy and a 12 year old girl, I don’t want them to have a worse future than ours. » The economic impact of Brexit is difficult to quantify, but it is now known that it has made it more difficult to trade goods and services with the EU due to customs procedures.
His plan remains vague: the MP has already mentioned a possible veterinary agreement to eliminate time-consuming sanitary and phytosanitary controls at borders, as well as mutual recognition of professional qualifications with the continent. But Mr Starmer has ruled out talks on Britain’s reintegration into the single market. Above all, the question is whether Europeans will have the energy and political will after the 2024 European elections to grant London more than a technical revision of the treaty already planned for 2025.
Source: Le Monde
I’m Joel Redick, a journalist currently working for an Run Down Bulletin. I specialize in writing articles on world news, and my work has been featured on multiple platforms, where I write about current affairs and global issues.
