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Labor will make a clear break with its divisions over Europe and will not seek major changes in the UK’s relationship with the EU, Keir Starmer told The Guardian, vowing to shift Labor’s focus to “Britain in the 2030s” instead of the battles of 2016..
Evoking Tony Blair’s election slogan of “forward, not backward” on the eve of the vote on the post-Brexit trade deal, Starmer said he wanted to lead a party that was focused on the future, and said Europe was unlikely. It will appear in your party election brochures.
The Labor leader, who said his first year goal had been to hear from voters about the party’s defeat in the general election, said his party would now begin to explain its vision for a future Labor government. Starmer said that 2021 would be the time to define his vision and values as the future prime minister, with a focus on the economy and the NHS.
In a nod to his angry advocates, dozens of whom are expected to refuse to back the conservative agreement, Starmer said he knew there were tough decisions, but said voting on the agreement will bring some closure.
Johnson has often tried to characterize Starmer as a “holdover attorney” and one of the most outspoken advocates of a second referendum under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. But Starmer said he would now define his own image.
“I am determined that the next general election be held on our terms, not someone else’s terms,” he said. “We have left the EU and the stay / leave discussion is over. Among the reasons for voting in favor of the agreement is allowing that closure. In our campaign for the general election in 2024, we will be a forward-thinking Labor party and a future Labor government, not one that looks back. “
In his interview, Starmer also warned of the crisis the NHS and schools will face over the next month, saying the UK was “looking down the canyon” of a third shutdown in January.
The Labor Party will attempt to amend the bill that will enforce the trade deal starting at 11 p.m. on Dec. 31, including additional protections over labor and environmental standards and support for business readiness, but none are likely to succeed . Johnson’s deal is likely to pass easily with Labor support, although the Liberal Democrats, the SNP and the DUP have said they will vote against the deal.
Starmer suggested that he had been convinced of the need to vote for the agreement for some time, and defended his decision to announce Labor’s position shortly after the agreement was published.
“I have been aware of the details of the Brexit negotiations,” he said. “I have read everything available on all the negotiating positions and the details of them. We had a very, very good idea of what this deal would look like, the fruit of four years of studying every twist and turn of this along the way. “
The Labor leader has faced some criticism from his supporters for framing the vote as a choice between a deal and a no-deal, when many would favor abstention and thus retain any implicit endorsement.
“If you vote against, you don’t vote for any agreement. That is the inexplicable position of the SNP. The consequence of that, if they are successful, will not be an agreement. “
Starmer said that accepting the deal that was being offered meant accepting that it would be the current relationship if Labor entered the government in 2024. “This is a difficult decision, I absolutely understand.”
“We will vote tomorrow with the mindset of the next general election in 2024. If we come to power in 2024, and I hope we do, we will inherit this agreement. The public in Britain would expect us to make this deal work. “
Starmer said he could not imagine Europe or Brexit playing a role in the 2024 election campaign, or appearing in the election pamphlets of Labor MPs, despite the opportunity to review the treaty in 2024, which is detailed in the current agreement.
“It is quite unlikely. The focus will be on Britain and on Britain’s role in the world, ”he said. “Will the renegotiation of the treaty be central to the manifesto? No.
“If we are still arguing in 2024 about what has happened in these last four years, we are facing the wrong path as far as I am concerned.”
Starmer said there was a case Labor would make in the coming months and years on ways to improve the UK’s relationship with the EU, including access to security data and the ability for artists and musicians to operate across Europe. . “But there will be no desire to renegotiate the entire treaty.”
Starmer plans to make 2021 a more proactive year for Labor policy offerings, but was cautious about making concrete promises about what will be in the party’s next manifesto.
“We are still four years away from a general election,” he said. “But my priority for next year and central to our arguments for 2024 will be the economy.”
He’s reluctant to specify what exactly that offer would be, but said the main focus would be jobs and “how we support good companies and good jobs … I don’t mean just pay, I mean dignity in jobs – and how we support the economy in different regions and nations. “
Starmer is likely to find Boris Johnson trying to fight on Labor terms with his “leveling off” agenda, where the new conservatives on the red wall can target infrastructure and street investment in their seats. But Starmer said he believed the boost would be cosmetic. “Leveling up will turn out to be a version of the great David Cameron society, which are words that mean nothing and accomplish nothing,” he said.
“There was no leveling when the government was fighting Andy Burnham in the Northwest. If the prime minister thinks that building something strange in places in Britain and pasting a picture of a Conservative MP on it is raising the bar, then he is misrepresenting anything he can achieve. “
Starmer’s second focus, and the most obvious, will be the consequences of the pandemic and its effect on the NHS. “We are the country with the highest number of Covid deaths in Europe, and also probably the deepest recession of any major economy,” he said.
“We have been only a few weeks away from that second lockdown and we are indeed looking at the barrel of the third lockdown. Everyone understands that the government will make mistakes in trying to manage a pandemic, but a government that simply repeats mistakes is really incompetent. “
Starmer said he knew he would have to continue to face his greatest challenge as leader of the opposition: “supporting the government where necessary and criticizing and challenging where necessary.”
Once the limitations of the pandemic begin to ease, Starmer said he expected to spend much of 2021 on the road. “We are very determined to be at least twice a week in different places in the UK, mainly going to places where we have to win votes in places where we lost,” he said. “The sooner we can do that the better. It’s really frustrating that we couldn’t do it the way we wanted to. “
