“The last government was defined by breaking our relationship with Europe. This Labour government will be defined by rebuilding our relationship with Europe, by putting Britain at the heart of Europe, so that we are stronger on the economy, stronger on trade, stronger on defence,” he told an audience of Labour activists and lawmakers.
Asked by attending reporters whether this meant he might ditch the tight red lines in his manifesto ruling out membership of the EU single market and customs union, Starmer replied: “What I want to do is take a big leap forward with the EU-U.K. summit this year and take us closer, both on trade, the economy, defence and security, and that will then be a platform on which we can build as we go forward.”
“As we do that, I strongly believe, we’ve got to turn our back on the arguments of the past, not open old grievances, but look forward together to how we make this country stronger, how we make this country fair — and so that’s the approach that I will take,” he said.
In his latest attempt to reset his troubled premiership — which has seen his party sink to third or even sometimes fourth place in opinion polls — Starmer said he had “learned a lot in my first two years in office in terms of the policy challenges that our country faces.”
He added: “Incremental change won’t cut it on growth, defence, Europe, energy — we need a bigger response than we anticipated in 2024 because these are not ordinary times.”
The prime minister has already said he wanted to expand his EU reset and the government is currently working on plans to broaden the number of areas Britain aligns with EU rules in in a bid to smooth trade.
The approach could be far from straightforward, however, with Brussels likely to demand cash payments and even potentially free movement of people as the price of further participation in the EU single market, depending on the scope of the plans.
The summit, the second annual meeting between Starmer and the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, is yet to get a date but is expected to take place in the summer.