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Sir Keir Starmer has made a mistake by ruling out Britain rejoining the EU single market, the leader of the Liberal Democrats has said.
Piling pressure on the Labour leader to u-turn on UK membership of the single market, Sir Ed Davey said “if you’re going to rebuild our economy and get growth, you have to go further”.
The prime minister has embarked on a reset of Britain’s post-Brexit relations with the EU, after years of acrimony under successive Conservative PMs.
But, despite vowing to rebuild ties with the UK’s nearest neighbours, Sir Keir has ruled out a return to the single market, which allows the free movement of goods, services, capital and people within the EU.
And the PM has gone as far as saying he does not think the UK will rejoin the single market in his lifetime.
But, ahead of the third day of his party conference in Brighton, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed said: “If you’re going to rebuild our economy and get growth, you have to go further than the prime minister is going.”
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he welcomed Sir Keir reopening talks with European leaders and his efforts to rebuild relations “after the appalling mess the Conservatives made of it.
But he said: “I just don’t think he is going far enough. The fact that he’s ruled out going back into the single market, I think is a mistake for those negotiations and for the vision of getting more investment into our country, getting rid of all the red tape and regulations that the Conservatives brought into exporters so damaged our farmers and small businesses.”
Sir Ed’s intervention comes days after Sir Keir insisted he is serious about his reset of relations with the EU.
Speaking to The Independent on a flight to Washington DC to discuss the Russia-Ukraine war with US president Joe Biden, Sir Keir said he had put the UK’s relationship with Europe at the top of his agenda since Labour swept to power.
“I’m very serious about it,” he said. “I think that’s clear enough from the work we’ve been doing in the last few weeks since the election.
“I made this very clear initially at the Nato summit in Washington with European colleagues then at the summit with the European political community, which we hosted. And then obviously, as you’ve seen, I’ve been twice to Berlin, twice to Paris. I was with the taoiseach [Simon Harris] last Saturday.
“We’re very serious about that. Obviously, we have a long way to go.”
Mr Biden’s administration has said it sees the reset as critical in strengthening its relationship with the UK.
Another thorny issue to the PM has been an EU-wide freedom of movement scheme for 18 to 35-year-olds, which would let young people live and work across the bloc for up to two years.
But Sir Keir has so far resisted calls to sign the UK up to such a scheme.
