Keir Starmer admits he would reopen ‘half-baked’ Brexit deal to help UK firms amid Vauxhall warning – Daily Mail

By David Wilcock, Deputy Political Editor For Mailonline and James Tapsfield, Political Editor For Mailonline 12:29 17 May 2023, updated 16:38 17 May 2023

Keir Starmer was accused of trying to slide Britain back into the EU 'by the back door' today after he vowed to reopen the Brexitdeal.

The Labour leader blasted Boris Johnson's agreement - since tweaked by Rishi Sunak- as 'half-baked' after one of the UK's top motor manufacturers demanded change.

While he stressed he did not support rejoining the EU fully, he said ties needed to be much closer.

But Tories are furious at the intervention, accusing Sir Keir of being 'deceitful' about his intentions and risking leaving the UK with the 'worst of all worlds'.

The spat erupted after Vauxhall's parent company Stellantis told MPs it will be unable to keep a commitment to make electric vehicles in the UK without changes to the Brexit deal.

The firm - which also owns Citroen, Peugeot and Fiat - employs more than 5,000 people in the UK.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, the Labour Party leader said: 'Look, we're not going to re-enter the EU. We do need to improve that deal. Of course we want a closer trading relationship, we absolutely do. We want to ensure that Vauxhall and many others not just survive in this country but thrive.

'Because there are jobs bound up, there are families watching this morning either employed by Vauxhall or a similar place who are deeply worried about what this means.

'So yes we need a better Brexit deal. We will make Brexit work. That doesn't mean reversing the decision and going back into the EU but the deal we've got, it was said to be oven-ready, it wasn't even half-baked.

'So of course we've got to repair that along with all the other things we'll have to repair if and when we are privileged to come into government.'

Sir said a future Labour government would look to 'make things here in Britain' to ensure a strong domestic supply chain.

A Tory spokesman pointed out that Sir Keir also wants to allow EU nationals to vote at general elections.

'Keir Starmer wants to rig British elections so EU nationals can vote for the British government,' the spokesman said.

'It is obvious why. He wants to reopen Brexit, hand power back to Brussels and surrender to uncontrolled, unlimited immigration after all this is what he's campaigned for his entire political career.'

Tory former minister Peter Bone told MailOnline that Sir Keir was 'being deceitful' because his goals would fundamentally undermine Brexit.

'He was sort of saying actually we need to be in the single market, we need to renegotiate and by the way we won't put that to the British people,' the MP said.

'That seems to be the worst of every world.

'If Starmer was to be honest and say I want to take us back in the EU and we'll have a referendum fair enough, I don't agree with it, but at least the British people would have a say.

'But for him to say by the back door he's going to renegotiate I was deeply concerned.

'If you believe in Brexit you shouldn't go anywhere near Labour.'

Mr Bone also rejected the idea that Brexit had failed, arguing that the UK had regained control over borders and laws and stopped handing billions of pounds to the EU.

Mr Sunak was successful in convincing the EU to reopen the deal when he secured the Windsor Framework to ease problems in Northern Ireland in February.

Former Tory minister Lord Frost suggested Left-wing Remain supporters were stoking a 'culture war' because they wanted Britain to 'fail' outside the EU.

The peer told the National Conservatism Conference: 'If they can show that the British nation was somehow born in sin, or even isn't really a proper country at all but a temporary constellation of four nations fused together purely for self-interest, then it's much easier to discredit the proposition that getting Britain to succeed in the 21st century is a worthwhile or even a possible task.'

Stellantis told a Commons inquiry into the supply of batteries for electric vehicles that their UK investments are in the balance due to the terms of the trade deal.

The world's fourth biggest car maker committed to making electric vehicles at its Ellesmere Port and Luton plants two years ago.

But in a submission to the inquiry, the company said the Brexit deal was a 'threat to our export business and the sustainability of our UK manufacturing operations'.

It called on the Government to reach an agreement with the EU to maintain existing rules until 2027, rather than enact next year's planned changes which state 45 per cent of an electric car's value must originate in the UK or EU to qualify for trade without tariffs.

Stellantis said the rise in the cost of raw materials during the pandemic and energy crisis meant it was 'unable to meet these rules of origin'.

It said companies not meeting the 45 per cent target would see 10 per cent tariffs on trade with the EU and make domestic production and exports uncompetitive with Japan and South Korea

Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch has raised the issue with Brussels, the Government said, and she has a pre-arranged meeting with Stellantis bosses today.

She has also raised the motor industry's concerns about the Brexit deal with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, according to Whitehall sources.

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Keir Starmer admits he would reopen 'half-baked' Brexit deal to help UK firms amid Vauxhall warning - Daily Mail