Is Labour changing course on Brexit?

The UK’s return to the EU’s Erasmus student-exchange programme has sparked hope among die-hard Remainers that this is a first step towards Britain rejoining the customs union – and even, ultimately, the European Union.

The new agreement with Brussels allows UK students to participate in the EU-wide university scheme from 2027, without any additional fees. And it has excited those who support a return to the customs union, even though Keir Starmer has repeatedly rejected any such plan. This is a “clear step towards repairing the disastrous Conservative Brexit deal”, said Lib Dem MP Ian Sollom.

What did the commentators say?

Starmer has declared Britain’s “need to get closer” to the EU bloc, and, as talks continue about a “reset” deal on food exports, energy markets and a youth mobility scheme, “the breakthrough on Erasmus will help” him “demonstrate progress”, said The Guardian’s Pippa Crerar.

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Labour strategists believe there is “a growing political benefit” to ministers in “arguing more openly for a closer relationship with Europe”.

The party “is waking up to the damage done by Brexit” and signalling they’re “intent on doing something about it”, said Chris Blackhurst in The Independent. With repeated polls showing that a majority of voters believe leaving the EU was a mistake, there is an element of “political pragmatism” at play “for a party desperate to put distance” between themselves and Reform UK, as well as the Tories.

There are also “concerns” that, without stronger ties to the EU, “the measures announced in last month’s Budget will fail to secure sufficient economic growth for the UK”, said Amy Gibbons in The Telegraph.

Minouche Shafik, the PM’s chief economic adviser, reportedly recommended rejoining the customs union, arguing it would cut costs for businesses and increase exports, said Oliver Wright in The Times. Starmer has argued, however, that a return to a customs union would undo recent deals with Donald Trump, which were particularly beneficial to carmaker Jaguar Land Rover.

What next?

Until ministers stop maintaining that “a return to full EU membership remains off the table”, said Jon Stone and Dan Bloom on Politico, there will be “scepticism” in Brussels “as to how much room for manoeuvre the British PM actually has”.

There are ways that Labour’s “manifesto ‘red line’ commitments” not to rejoin the EU, the customs union or single market “could be bypassed”, said Starmer’s biographer Tom Baldwin in The Guardian. They could, for instance, “announce the start of negotiations now on a much bolder deal, for inclusion in the next manifesto, with implementation only if Labour won a fresh mandate”.

Even though I voted Remain, I’ve always thought the referendum must be respected but now “posh lefties” have “spotted their chance” to make “cuddling up to Brussels the big issue at the next election”, said former Labour MP Ian Austin in The Sun. The hope is that they can “pile up the pro-EU votes in a crazy coalition of Labour, the Lib Dems, the Greens, the SNP and Uncle Tom Cobley to take on Nigel Farage” and “what remains of the Tory party” .