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UK could stay in EU single market permanently: Labour deputy leader

Tom Watson, deputy leader of the Labour Party

The British Labour Party’s deputy leader has said his party will push for the United Kingdom to remain within the European Single Market permanently.    

In an interview on Friday, Tom Watson admitted Labour is now positioning itself as the party of “soft Brexit.”

He said Britain’s continued membership in the bloc’s single market and customs union in the transitional period after withdrawal from the EU could be a “permanent outcome” of the Brexit negotiations.  

His comments reflect a shift in Labour’s Brexit policy following shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer's announcement. Starmer recently outlined Labour’s new blueprint for the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union which would see Britain keep existing trading arrangements and current market access during a period of up to four years, after Britain formally leaves the EU in 2019.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell have both previously ruled out staying within the single market after Brexit. Membership would mean that the UK would continue to abide by the EU’s free movement rules, accept the jurisdiction of the European Court Of Justice and pay into the EU budget after Brexit.

Asked whether Labour is now the party of a soft Brexit, Watson said in the interview, "Yes, you have seen Keir Starmer's statement, we think that being part of the customs union and the single market is important in those transitional times because that is the way you protect jobs and the economy, and it might be a permanent outcome of the negotiations, but we have got to see how those negotiations go."

A Labour spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed last week that Labour agreed to back "continued membership of the EU single market beyond March 2019" in an attempt to offer a clear alternative to the Brexit currently proposed by Theresa May's Conservative government.

He said the party would propose the same "basic terms" as the UK’s current relationship with the EU during the transition period following Brexit in 2019.

Corbyn's party reportedly would also "leave open the option of the UK remaining a member of the customs union and single market for good, beyond the end of the transitional period.”

EU officials have been complaining that the British side has been weaseling out of its obligations, failing to address three key points in previous Brexit talks.

The three main points highlighted by Brussels negotiators include: EU citizen rights, Northern Ireland's border and the divorce bill.


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