Davey urges Starmer to start EU customs union talks

Sam Francis
Political reporter

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has urged Sir Keir Starmer to begin talks on a new UK-EU customs union when he meets European leaders in Brussels on Monday.

Sir Ed told the BBC the move could grow the economy "far more quickly" than projects recently suggested by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

He added that joining another bloc, the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean (PEM) convention, could be a "good first step" towards a new customs agreement.

Labour has left open the possibility of joining PEM, but has ruled out rejoining the EU's customs union, which the UK left in 2021.

Conservative shadow minister Andrew Griffith accused Sir Ed of wanting to "take us back to the past".

'Vital tax revenue'

PEM allows tariff-free trade of some goods from across dozens of countries in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

The Lib Dems say the UK should join it as a first step to rejoining the UK-EU customs union, which allows tariff-free movement of goods between EU member states - but prevents members striking their own trade deals.

The party's ultimate aim is for the UK to rejoin the European Union - but it has only started campaigning on the issue since the general election.

Downing Street says Sir Keir's meeting with EU leaders on Monday - the first time a British prime minister has been invited to such a gathering since the UK left the EU in 2020 - is focused on defence and security cooperation.

Sir Ed told BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that opening talks on a new EU customs union could "turbo-charge" relations with the 27-country bloc.

He added that his party believed such a deal could be in place by 2030 "at the latest".

He has also written to Reeves asking her to commission the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to explore the potential impact a new customs deal with the EU could have on the UK economy.

The forecasts then should be made public as part of the OBR's forecasts, due to be published alongside the Spring Statement on 26 March, he suggested.

'Trying to reopen past divisions'

Earlier this month, the EU's new trade chief Maros Sefcovic told the BBC he was open to Britain joining PEM as part of a post-Brexit "reset".

On the possibility of the UK joining the arrangement, the prime minister's official spokesman has previously told reporters: "We've always said that we want to look at ways to reduce barriers to trade whilst remaining within our clear red lines.

"The arrangement that's being discussed is not a customs union.

"Our red line has always been that we will never join our customs union, never re-join the single market, no freedom of movement, but we're just not going to get ahead of those discussions."

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused the government of "trying to reopen the divisions of the past and edge us back into the EU", after having "opposed us every step of the way" while the previous Conservative government brought the UK out of the EU.

Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, shadow trade secretary Andrew Griffith said his party wanted to see good trade relations with the EU, but that the "much greater opportunity right now" was with striking a deal with the US.

He urged the government to ditch its deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and "apologise a little bit" for previous comments about Trump made by Labour ministers to improve US trade prospects.

This could also help the UK avoid tariffs imposed by the US on some of its other trading partners, he suggested.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy described Trump as a "tyrant" and "a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath" in 2018, but has called these criticisms "old news" since entering government.

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