Labour calls for lengthy transitional period post Brexit in policy rethink Read moreWith some justification Labour’s Brexit spokesman, Keir Starmer describes the papers as “bland and non-committal”. It was important, Starmer’s defenders said, to offend neither side of the Labour divide with the party so perilously positioned ahead of polling day. Perhaps even more significantly, Labour is not ruling out remaining in the customs union and the single market permanently if it can achieve the reforms it seeks. This weekend, unaware that Starmer was preparing a big announcement, many Labour MPs – including Heidi Alexander and Alison McGovern– are launching campaigns calling for Labour to back single market membership with no ifs and buts. The stage is set for an autumn of extraordinary Brexit battles in parliament, running in parallel with equally momentous ones in Brussels.

Source: The Guardian August 26, 2017 19:52 UTC