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.”
The Conservatives say joining PEM would turn the UK “into rule-takers and not rule-makers”.
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.
She challenged Sir Keir to meet five tests that she said would ensure “he doesn’t undo Brexit”, which include: no “backsliding” on the free movement of people, or the compulsory transfer of asylum seekers, no new payments to the EU, and no reduction in fishing rights.
Badenoch also said Nato must have “primacy” when it came to European security – her final test.
Source:
www.bbc.com
Source link
