Keir Starmer lays out Labour’s Brexit plan

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer set out Labour’s 5-Point Brexit plan on Monday, in order to “deliver on the opportunities Britain has, sort out the poor deal Boris Johnson signed, and end the Brexit divisions once and for all”.

The “Make Brexit Work” strategy is centred around five key steps:

1. Sort out the Northern Ireland Protocol
2. Tear down unnecessary trade barriers
3. Support our world leading services and scientists
4. Keep Britain safe
5. Invest in Britain

Further key highlights included:

• “with Labour, Britain will not go back into the EU. We will not be joining the single market. We will not be joining a customs union … Nothing about revisiting those rows will help stimulate growth or bring down food prices or help British business thrive in the modern world”
• “We will get the [Northern Ireland] protocol working and we will make it the springboard to securing a better deal for the British people”
• “Labour would eliminate most border checks created by the Tory Brexit deal”
• “a new veterinary agreement for agri-products between the UK and EU”
• ” Labour would extend that new veterinary agreement to cover all the UK benefiting exporters”
• “mutual recognition of professional qualifications, ensuring our services can compete and restoring access to funding and vital research programmes”
• “We will work hand-in-hand with business to bring the good, clean jobs of the future to our shores harnessing the power of government alongside the ingenuity of our brilliant private sector”
• “We will use our flexibility outside of the EU to ensure British regulation is adapted to suit British needs”
• “We will not return to freedom of movement to create short term fixes. Instead we will invest in our people and our places, and deliver on the promise our country has”

Starmer unveiled the plan during a speech at the Centre for European Reform, which can be read in full here.

A detailed breakdown of the plan itself can also be read here.

Media outlets responded to Starmer’s plan in line with inevitable political bias and opinions surrounding Brexit. Right-leaning outlets claimed Starmer’s strategy was potentially ineffective, but interestingly, left-leaning outlets were stronger to criticise the plan, with some expressing disappointment in ruling out the possibility of returning to the EU, and others finding an opportunity to blame Boris Johnson for the plan’s supposed weaknesses.

The least opinionated and more fact-based coverage could be found in centre-liberal broadsheet headlines.

Keir Starmer criticised for ruling out UK return to EU

Financial Times

Keir Starmer’s Brexit plan is a mouse of a policy – what is he so afraid of?

The Guardian

Sir Keir Starmer clashes with Labour over Brexit

The Telegraph

Keir Starmer is buying into Boris Johnson’s big economic lie over Brexit

Independent

Sir Keir Starmer launches five-point plan to fix Boris Johnson’s ‘poor’ Brexit deal

Daily Mail

Keir Starmer compares Tory Brexit to ‘wet wipe island’ and vows to sort Johnson’s  ‘poor deal’

Mirror

Sir Keir Starmer unveils mad Brexit plan which will hand powers BACK to Brussels

The Sun

• Starmer’s plan states: Labour will seek a new security pact with the EU to defend our borders, by allowing us to share data, intelligence, and best practice…Labour will seek to set up joint intelligence working to boost capabilities in Britain and the bloc. And we will seek to create new models of joint working with EU and other countries to combat cyberattacks and the spread of state sponsored disinformation.
• The Sun took this statement as the lead for the above headline, writing:  [Starmer] called for a new Europe security pact, effectively handing over vital terror and security data with nothing in return.

Will Starmer’s “make Brexit work” strategy win over voters?

New Statesman