Minister shuts down David Lammy over joining EU customs union

A cabinet minister has shut down deputy prime minister David Lammy after he suggested that rejoining the customs union could increase economic growth and repeatedly refused to rule out reversing Brexit.

Asked about his remarks, work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden told Sky News the prime minister has been “pretty clear” that the UK won’t be rejoining the customs union.

Sir Keir Starmer is currently attempting to ramp up his “reset” of relations with the bloc as part of an attempt to boost growth, but he has insisted that the government’s “clear red lines in relation to the single market and the customs union” remain in place.

But in an interview last week, Mr Lammy refused seven times to rule out reversing Brexit, arguing that leaving the EU badly damaged the UK economy and saying Labour should consider closer integration with Brussels.

While he said that rejoining the customs union was not currently government policy, he said it was self-evident that other countries had seen growth after doing so.

Asked about Mr Lammy’s comments, Mr McFadden told Sky News: “Well, we’ve just conducted three trade deals this year, and that’s a pretty big difficulty if you’re going to join a customs union.”

Asked whether the deputy prime minister was wrong in his remarks, the work and pensions secretary said: “I think the prime minister has made that pretty clear in terms of the grand architecture of EU. By grand architecture, I mean the single market and the customs union.”

He added: “But what I do want to stress is we do have a different approach to the European Union from the last government. We’re not nationalists.

“This Ukraine issue…has really bought brought European leaders together. We don’t seek to blame the EU for everything, and we do want a closer, more productive relationship where we can take away some of those costs and delays of the Tory Brexit.”

Labour’s manifesto pledged not to rejoin the single market or customs union, but pressure over the issue is mounting from MPs and advisers following poor growth forecasts.

Mr Lammy, who is also justice secretary, was asked on The News Agents podcast about the idea of being part of the customs union again, said: “That is not currently our policy. That’s not currently where we are.

“But you can see countries like Turkey with a customs union seemingly benefiting and seeing growth in their economy, and again, that’s self-evident.”

He added that his comments were “subject to collective responsibility”, implying that he should follow Sir Keir’s position.

In the wake of the deputy prime minister’s remarks, new polling showed that two-thirds of 2024 Labour voters would rather Sir Keir abandon his Brexit red lines and join a customs union with the European Union than raise taxes on working people.

It comes after ministers ramped up their attacks on Brexit in the lead up to last month’s tax rising Budget, saying the decision to leave the EU had an even bigger impact on Britain’s economy than critics predicted.

Giving a speech on Monday, Sir Keir said it would be “utterly reckless” to use the UK’s exit from the EU as a template for future foreign policy.

“The Brexit vote was a fair, democratic expression, and I will always respect that. But how it was sold and delivered was wrong”, he said.

“Wild promises were made to the British people and not fulfilled. We are still dealing with the consequences today in our economy.”

He added: “To consider Brexit a template for our future foreign policy is utterly reckless.”