Brexit hymn sheets of Swinney and Starmer so very different

Brexit has been in focus in the last week north and south of the Border.

Under-pressure Sir Keir Starmer went big on Europe last Monday in a major speech which was somewhat overshadowed by speculation over his future as Prime Minister.

And his focus was interesting, given how timid Labour was on Brexit for so long.

Sadly, Labour’s red lines of not taking the UK back into the European Union, single market or even the customs union remain, at least for now, and they basically prevent the ongoing damage of Brexit being mitigated in any meaningful macroeconomic sense.

Meanwhile, First Minister John Swinney, in an exclusive interview with Brian Taylor for The Herald which provided fascinating content across a raft of topics, homed in on Brexit when he was asked about his strategy on an independence referendum.

Sir Keir declared last Monday: “The last government was defined by breaking our relationship with Europe. This Labour government will be defined by rebuilding our relationship with Europe, by putting Britain at the heart of Europe, so that we are stronger on the economy, stronger on trade, stronger on defence.”

This sentiment was good to hear but what about those red lines?

Asked if this meant he might abandon the red lines on Europe in Labour’s manifesto published ahead of the July 2024 general election, Sir Keir replied: “I strongly believe we've got to turn our back on the arguments of the past, not open old grievances, but look forward together to how we make this country stronger, how we make this country fairer - and so that's the approach that I will take.”

This was perhaps better than an unequivocal “no” to the question followed by the type of determined restatement of the red lines we have seen in the past. However, the “not open old grievances” did not appear to offer that much hope of that obliteration of the red lines that is so desperately needed.

The European Movement UK cross-party campaign group declared last Monday: “While the PM's pro-European rhetoric is welcome, he can't achieve his policy aims within his own red lines. You can't be at the heart of Europe, and you can't restore hope for future generations, without being in the EU, at the heart of its single market and at the table when the big calls are made.”

My column in The Herald on Wednesday observed: “The fact of the matter is that Labour cannot seize the step-change opportunity for the UK economy if its red lines remain - with rejoining the single market absolutely crucial and regaining EU membership most desirable.”

Mr Swinney brought up Brexit when Brian Taylor asked him about an apparent change of strategy regarding an independence referendum when the First Minister flagged a “parliamentary majority there for independence”, having before the election highlighted an overall SNP majority as a route to securing a second referendum.

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While the SNP won by far the most seats in the Scottish Parliament election, it fell short of an overall majority.

The First Minister, who described the UK Government as “intransigent” on the matter of a second independence referendum, said: “My mechanism was to break the logjam. But what I've now got to do is to find another way of breaking the logjam, because winning independence is part of the whole reasoning of my politics and what drives me, because I think Scotland, and as I look at the situation we face, the hardship that members of the public are facing just now, a lot of that has been caused because of Brexit, which is an issue inextricably linked to the decisions of the United Kingdom against the will of the people of Scotland.

“Independence sorts that out. It addresses that and enables Scotland to be a part of the European Union.”

What is particularly remarkable is that Sir Keir and Mr Swinney, while in essence both expressing pro-European sentiments, are about as far away from singing from the same hymn sheet as you could imagine.

Whatever people’s views on the Scottish constitutional question, Mr Swinney’s point about Brexit being “against the will of the people of Scotland” is a numerical fact.

In Scotland, a very significant majority, 62%, voted to remain in the EU in the June 2016 referendum.

And what is also plain, putting politics to one side, is the UK as a whole continues to suffer huge and ongoing damage from Brexit.

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As my column in The Herald observed: “As we look at the UK now - from a purely economic perspective and putting aside whatever political impediments might be perceived by a Labour government seemingly terrified of telling the Brexiters they were wrong and upsetting those “red-wall” voters - rejoining the single market would be an enormous boost.

“Such a move – bringing with it the return of free movement of people and frictionless trade between the UK and European Economic Area - would provide a step-change in the UK’s fortunes. And it is the only economic policy that could deliver such a huge boost, in short order, to output and living standards. This is clearly an issue for now and the future - not a past one like the Brexiters would try to have people believe.”

Sir Keir was not a Brexiter in late 2019, arguing eloquently against the folly.

However, Labour’s red lines mean it has embraced the key elements of the Tory hard Brexit: the loss of free movement and the ending of frictionless trade.

It was good to hear Sir Keir talk about putting “Britain at the heart of Europe” last Monday. However, it is impossible to see how the Labour government thinks it can do that with those red lines.