Labour leadership jostling puts Brexit back under political spotlight9 hours agoDamian GrammaticasPolitical correspondentReutersThe UK’s relationship with the EU looks set to become an issue in both a possible Labour leadership contest and the coming by-election in the Makerfield constituency.Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, in his first public appearance since resigning from the cabinet, told an audience in London on Saturday that “leaving the European Union was a catastrophic mistake”.At the Progress Conference, organised by the “Blairite” wing of the Labour Party, he announced he would contest a formal challenge to replace Sir Keir Starmer.Within an hour Conservative Party Chairman Kevin Hollinrake seized on Streeting’s comment, saying “whilst Labour relitigate Brexit, Britain is not being governed”.Hollinrake called the remarks “yet another distraction… at a time when families and businesses want the government focused on the cost of living, the economy, public services and Britain’s defence”.Under Sir Keir Starmer, Labour have trod warily around the issue of Brexit, sticking to “red lines” that, while seeking a closer relationship with the EU, the UK would not be rejoining either the EU’s single market or a customs union.In his speech, Streeting said Labour had suffered from an “overcautiousness” when formulating policies in opposition. He said that the party was “too scared of what the Tories may say” and must now deal “with the Streeting said that Brexit had left the country less wealthy, weaker, and less in charge than it has ever been since “The biggest opportunity for economic growth is right in front of us.” He added that we need a special relationship with the EU because Britain’s future is with Europe, and one day, He hopes to be Labour’s candidate in the upcoming by-election. According to the BBC, this will most He was asked by ITV News if he supported rejoining the EU, and replied “in the long term there He said he was “not advocating” that in this byelection. In the past, Burnham, like The party cited Burnham’s remarks at Labour’s annual meeting last year, where he said, “I Burnham said that Britain has been on the wrong track for 40 years. A Reform UK spokesperson confirmed this. “”It started in this borough with de-industrialisation, de-regulation of the buses, privatisation of life’s essentials,” he said.He added that “we need a new path, we need to fix politics, to fix the economy, get the basics back under public control”.He said he wanted to see “re-industrialisation” of northwest England and a council house building programme “on a similar scale to the post-war period”.But the fact the UK’s relationship with the EU has been seized on already by Streeting – as well as by the Conservative Party and Reform UK – is a sign of how the issue remains a key dividing line between political parties and voters.The Liberal Democrats have already said that the results in recent elections have strengthened their long-standing argument that the UK needs change, insisting that “without a customs union, we won’t see the growth we desperately need, and the forces of populism on both left and right will only grow”.Speaking for the Green Party at its conference last year, MP Ellie Chowns said “full membership of the EU remains the best option for the UK, and we are in favour of pursuing a policy to re-join as soon as the political will is present”.Streeting says he would join leadership race as Burnham vows to ‘save’ LabourHow would a Labour leadership contest work?What next for Starmer? What would a Labour leadership contest look like? What next for Starmer?
