Keir Starmer pledges to seek a better trading relationship with EU for British farming
- It is designed to reduce the number of export checks faced by livestock farmers
- Sir Keir would seek to extend the arrangement to cover the entire UK
Sir Keir Starmer will today pledge closer trading links with the EU – as he faces fresh Labour pressure to commit to rejoining the single market.
The Labour leader will use a speech to the National Farmers’ Union to commit Labour to striking a new ‘veterinary agreement’ with the EU designed to reduce the number of export checks faced by livestock farmers.
The move is designed primarily to tackle checks on livestock and animal products going from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
Sir Keir will accuse ministers of ‘giving up’ on farmers, adding: ‘Labour’s approach to trade will be very different – I can promise you that. We want to remove barriers to exporters, not put them up. We want to protect high British standards, not water them down.
‘We are going to talk to our friends in the European Union, and we are going to seek a better trading relationship for British farming.’
Keir Starmer will use a speech to the National Farmers’ Union to commit Labour to striking a new ‘veterinary agreement’ with the EU
Labour sources said Sir Keir would seek to extend the arrangement to cover the entire UK, potentially reducing the volume of border checks at key ports like Dover.
However, despite first announcing the plan in July last year, Labour has yet to explain how it would work.
Former Brexit negotiator Lord Frost has revealed that the EU rejected the idea of a New Zealand-style veterinary agreement in which both sides recognise the ‘equivalence’ of each other’s regulations.
But the alternative Swiss-style arrangement is likely to require the UK to follow the EU’s food and animal health rules forever, undermining the Brexit principle of self-determination.
Such a move would fuel fears that a future Labour government could seek to lock Britain into wider alignment with EU laws.
Sadiq Khan yesterday stepped up pressure on Labour’s leader to take steps towards re-joining the EU.
London’s Labour mayor said: ‘We should be looking at whether being a member of the Single Market or Customs Union is better for our country.’
Sir Keir led Labour’s opposition to Brexit and campaigned for a second referendum. But last year he ruled out seeking to rejoin the Single Market.
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