EU diplomats and party insiders have warned Sir Keir Starmer that he will not be able to renegotiate the current trade agreement while staying outside the single market and customs union.
Labour will claim that fixing the UK’s Brexit deal will help control the cost of living crisis to avoid claims it wants to lead Britain back into the EU, i understands.
But some Labour activists are keen to push the leader towards a more anti-Brexit stance – even while the Conservatives are ready to pounce on any evidence that the party is abandoning Leave voters.
Sir Keir told the Financial Times he wanted to fix Britain’s relationship with the EU for the sake of his children. He said: “We have to make it work. That’s not a question of going back in. But I refuse to accept that we can’t make it work. I think about those future generations when I say that.”
Senior figures including shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves have privately argued that the party should present its Brexit policy as a way of easing inflation by cutting cost imports, including by striking a veterinary deal which will remove most health checks on food products imported to Britain from the continent.
The Labour leader said he would seek a “closer trading relationship” with Brussels, pointing to a review of the Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA) – the Brexit deal struck by Boris Johnson – due in 2025 as a key moment to enhance relations.
But EU insiders and independent experts cast doubt on the idea that this review, which some in Brussels already want to push back to 2026, will be a major moment in reassessing the post-Brexit relationship.
One EU source said: “It is not a renegotiation, there is no mandate to the Commission from the member states.”
The source added that “tweaks” to the existing deal, similar to those agreed by Rishi Sunak under the Windsor Framework on Northern Ireland, could be presented as a breakthrough by Sir Keir for domestic consumption.
Potential areas of agreement include rejoining the Erasmus universities scheme and signing a deal on long-term security co-operation.
Joël Reland of UK in a Changing Europe added: “This review clause is very vague, it just says that the parties will have to look at the agreement again after five years.
“At the moment, there is not very much interest at all in renegotiating the trade agreement with the UK. The EU thinks trying to get this deal to work properly is the priority.
“There is a lot of Brexit fatigue in Brussels, the idea of going back into rounds of negotiation is slightly traumatising for officials. The TCA review is a UK-only obsession.”
Other experts warned that the technical process of the TCA review was aimed at assessing its workings and adjusting minor kinks, rather than a wholesale renegotiation – and that the EU would be reluctant to give new concessions to the UK as long as Britain stays out of the bloc’s formal structures such as the single market.
“If you’re looking at different connections in different sectors, that’s really quite difficult to do,” says Roderick Abbott, a retired trade negotiator who spent 30 years at the European Commission.
“You have to negotiate ‘substantially all your trade’ – those are the words under the WTO rules.
“And if he wants different deals on a sectoral basis, that runs up against the EU single market philosophy. They don’t like that. They say you have to have the whole thing or nothing.”
Some senior Labour figures have warned against assuming that a government led by Sir Keir after the next election would automatically be able to secure more friendly terms from the EU.
A shadow minister told i: “You can’t just walk into Brussels on day one and say we demand better terms. Because they’re not sitting there sobbing about how much they miss us. You have to build trust and that will take time. The problem is that relations right now are totally f***d up.”
But some activists are likely to push the party to take a more pro-EU policy, including at the upcoming party conference in Liverpool. A source said: “The big disagreement is over Brexit, that’s what a lot of the membership feel really passionately about. But there is no room for ambiguity here, we’re all Brexiteers now.”
Meanwhile the Conservatives are set to use any backsliding on Brexit as an electoral weapon against Labour. “They will need to explain what they will give up,” a Tory source said. “We’ve had years of this and know the EU hates cherry picking – the price is usually money or movement.”
Mr Sunak has ruled out any form of renegotiation. A Downing Street spokesman said: “We’re not looking to relitigate the past or reopen it in any way, shape or form. Obviously there is a set statutory review period but beyond that we’re very much focused on maximising the opportunities it presents for the public.”
