Labour split over single market amendment plan
Brexit spokesman says alternative option will still offer 'full access'
The opposition UK Labour Party is divided over its stance on Britain's membership of the single market, its Brexit spokesman admitted on Wednesday.
Sir Keir Starmer said Labour MPs could not agree unanimously to back an amendment from the House of Lords that supports a Norway-style membership of the European Economic Area (EEA). The party plans to abstain on a vote next Tuesday in the House of Commons.
Labour instead will table a separate amendment on June 12 which Starmer claims would “full access” to the EU’s single market and marks a shift in policy towards a softer Brexit welcomed by some Labour MPs.
However, other more Europhile party members claim Labour is wasting an opportunity to inflict a serious defeat on the government by backing the original Lords amendment. Many could defy the whips next week and vote for full EAA membership.
“I have been talking to colleagues for the last two or three weeks to try and gauge the views and I wish I could report we had complete unity on all amendments but we are not in that position,” Starmer told the BBC.
“They know as well as I do that their own colleagues in the party are indicating they are not prepared to vote for this. The only way we can win a vote is if we all vote together at the same time; that’s the only way we can defeat the government.”
"I am injecting some honesty about where we are in the Labour Party. There are very strong and different views across the Parliamentary Labour Party on that amendment."
Under the so-called "Norway model" the UK would retain full access to the single market, but have to contribute to the EU budget and allow freedom of movement of people. Some right-wing Labour MPs from constituencies that voted to leave the EU are against the proposal because they fear an electoral backlash.
Labour's version rules out the free movement and but calls for "no new impediments" to trade. One of its most fervent pro-European MPs, Chuka Umunna, was critical of the party's compromise.
“Like the Tory government and hard Brexiteers, this amendment seeks 'access' to the EU's single market, but this is nowhere near enough. What the overwhelming majority of Labour members and supporters want is so much more - to be part of the framework of protections for workers, consumers and the environment which being part of the European Economic Area uniquely offers to non-EU members."
“All the way through the passage of this Bill, the only amendments which have commanded support on both sides of the House and passed are cross party backbench ones. So, if we are serious about ‘protecting full access to the internal market of the EU’ and ensuring ‘no new impediments to trade’, logic dictates Labour MPs should be whipped to support the cross-party EEA amendment sent to us by the House of Lords.”
The government could face defeat on a number of amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill. Among the amendments passed by the Lords are remaining in the customs union, the Northern Irish border issue and the power given to parliament on Brexit in the case that the UK does not secure an exit deal with the EU.