Labour will not reverse Brexit. That is the message which will be preached from the shadow cabinet in the months ahead as the general election looms ever closer.
But so too will another message: Labour wants a closer relationship with the European Union. Changes will be made to improve ties with the continent.
It is in the space between those two points – that Brexit is staying, but the Brexit delivered under the Tories will be changed – that the fate of UK-EU relations under a potential Labour government lies.
Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, is in The Hague on Thursday, outlining more about how he would drive down small boat crossings in power after months of creative ambiguity in the Labour position.
Next week, it will be handshakes and smiles in Paris with Emmanuel Macron, the French president, who is straying away from diplomatic etiquette by hosting the opposition leader.
Neither is proof of a secret plot to take Britain further into the EU’s orbit. A small boats plan of some form is an electoral necessity, given the degree of public concern on the topic.
Sir Keir’s overseas missions
Glad-handing a foreign leader is useful optics for a politician on the outside hoping to become a national leader. More trips from Sir Keir overseas are being planned in the coming months.
But in tone and feel, his visit to France will be a very different one from the Brexit wars of not too long ago. Expect to hear plenty of mutual respect, the importance of cooperation, and references to like-minded allies.
Labour does, however, have a wider plan to re-engage with the continent – one short on detail but heavy with potential significance.
There is the stated goal of negotiating an agricultural deal between the UK and the EU, one that would likely lower trade barriers to allow both sides’ farmers to sell more into each other’s markets.
As with all things Brexit, the devil will be in the detail. Will it mean the UK accepting agricultural rules and regulations set by Brussels in return for the trade boost? Probably so, according to informed observers.
If Sir Keir gets into power, this will prove to be a fascinating microcosm of future attempts to “fix Brexit” – the Labour Party’s phrase – and where public opinion lies on the topic.
What-ifs
Labour has also signalled a wider renegotiation of the Brexit deal would follow. Sir Keir hit the headlines when he acknowledged as much back in May.
The comment was a nod to an accepted reality – that the UK and EU are both already committed to formally reviewing how their free trade deal is working by the end of 2025.
Yet it brings a whole load more what-ifs. Are there other areas where a Labour government would open up free trade a little more, in return for giving up a little more say over the rules?
Underpinning all this is Sir Keir’s past positions on Brexit. He voted to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum. Perhaps more significantly, he led Labour’s push to secure a second referendum.
That was in the past, the Labour leader argues. The country has decided, Brexit is done. But it does suggest an instinctive belief in the benefits of boosting trade, even if it means giving up a little more sovereignty.
Should Sir Keir be handed half a decade in power by the electorate next year, those little steps back towards the EU may well turn into strides that are more significant than Labour headquarters likes to project right now.
