A leading policy expert has warned Labour could effectively reverse Brexit by dragging the UK back into a shrinking EU with an associate membership.
Sir Keir Starmer and senior Labour Party figures recently embarked on a whistlestop tour of the continent including meeting French President Emanuel Macron for “very constructive and positive” talks.
The Labour leader, who was joined by Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy in Paris, also made a trip to Canada where he talked to a centre-left conference about the UK not wanting to diverge from the EU bloc’s regulations.
It emerged last week that bureaucrats in France and Germany mooted the creation of an associate membership tier to offer countries like the UK outside of the main EU group.
The Franco-German proposal was for four circles of EU membership, from the core wanting full union, the second as the body is now, a third associate tier and a fourth for countries with similar political values but with no binding rules or access to the Single Market.
Sir Keir has denied Labour wants to reverse Brexit, but a senior economics expert has warned there is a “big danger” of being seduced by offers of watered-down membership.
Roger Bootle, Senior Independent Advisor and Non-Executive Director of Capital Economics told the Telegraph that “Europe is shrinking” in terms of its importance to the world economy.
He said: “The big danger lies with a Labour government, doubtless egged on by Sir Tony Blair, being seduced into joining the third ring, i.e., associate membership, thereby effectively reversing the result of the 2016 referendum but placing us in a worse position than we were before Brexit.”
Mr Bootle added if the UK sought membership in the “third ring” of associate membership there would be “decided disadvantages”.
He continued: “More importantly, we would be subject to all EU rules and regulations and would fall under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, based in Luxembourg. Furthermore, we would have to commit, yet again, to the free movement of people between EU member states.”
Remainers hoping to drag Britain back into the EU could be “attracted” to the idea of the associate member route, Mr Bootle warned.
He pointed out the bloc faced mounting dissatisfaction with immigration as well as growing disputes between member states like Poland and Hungary and the bureaucrats in Brussels.
