DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Is Keir Starmer preparing to cosy up to Brussels?
Is Brexit safe in Labour's hands? Sir Keir Starmer says so, but can we believe him?
The Labour leader promises he would not rejoin the single market or customs union, if elected, nor seek a return to free movement.
'We have left, and we are not going back to EU membership,' he said last week.
However, his Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves struck a different tone yesterday.
While sticking to his red lines, she opened the door to closer ties with Brussels.
The Labour leader promises he would not rejoin the single market or customs union, if elected, nor seek a return to free movement - but can we believe him?
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves stuck to Sir Keir Starmer's red lines, but opened the door to closer ties with Brussels. The current relationship is too 'adversarial', she said
The current relationship is too 'adversarial', she said.
Britain should revisit Boris Johnson's 'botched' Brexit deal, and seek closer alignment in several areas, including recognition of professional qualifications and veterinary standards.
Many Eurosceptics will see 'realignment' as the thin end of a dangerous wedge, which could culminate in reversing the result of the 2016 referendum.
Once we start bowing to Brussels regulations, they might reasonably ask, where do we stop?
It would be a slippery slope to becoming a rule-taker rather than a rule-maker – the worst of all worlds.
Despite warnings that trade would fall off a cliff following Brexit, Britain is now the world's sixth-largest economy, overtaking France in 2021, and has advanced from the seventh largest global exporter to fourth.
London remains the world's biggest financial centre after New York and we have signed trade deals with some of the world's fastest-growing economies, not to mention a defence pact with the US and Australia.
Most of Europe, meanwhile, is growing more slowly than the UK, has higher unemployment and is in political turmoil over mass immigration and the rise of the hard-Right.
Gravitating back to Brussels is not the answer to our economic problems and would only reopen old wounds.
But there are many embittered Remainers within Labour who yearn to rejoin whatever the cost.
Are Sir Keir and Ms Reeves among them? By the time we find out, it may be too late.
A one-man band
Nigel Farage is a man of considerable charisma with an unsinkable belief in his own righteousness.
He is a powerful and engaging speaker, without whose persistence Brexit may never have happened.
Now, the great tub-thumper is hoping to play on the disillusionment of traditional Tory voters to coax them into voting for Reform UK in the coming election.
But as its manifesto launch shows, Reform is little more than a one-man band. Behind Nigel Farage and a facade of radicalism, there is nothing.
And if opinion polls are to be believed, he is having significant success.
But as its manifesto launch shows, Reform is little more than a one-man band. Behind Mr Farage and a facade of radicalism, there is nothing.
No infrastructure, no detailed policies and a bunch of cranks and oddballs for candidates.
In its 'contract' with the people, Reform is offering big tax cuts, the scrapping of Net-Zero targets, a freeze in non-essential immigration, an end to the small-boats crisis and to slash NHS waiting lists.
All these missions have popular appeal but the chances of them being accomplished are nil.
Reform candidates are highly unlikely to win more than a handful of seats and may not win any.
What they can do, however, is undermine the Conservatives so fatally that Labour is propelled to power with a 'super-majority', allowing it to impose its high-tax, high-spending socialist agenda on the country almost unopposed – and possibly even reverse Brexit.
However disgruntled Tory voters may be, do they want that on their conscience?
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