In the face of Trump’s mayhem, Europe is the direction to which the UK must turn – and Keir Starmer knows it
In the face of Trump’s mayhem, Europe is the direction to which the UK must turn – and Keir Starmer knows it
In the face of Trump’s mayhem, Europe is the direction to which the UK must turn – and Keir Starmer knows it | Tom Baldwin
This article says that the UK might be willing to sign up for a youth mobility scheme with the EU (for 18-30 year-olds) because it could boost economic growth: "by some estimates, it could do more for growth than planning reform and housebuilding combined".
However, the article also says that the UK government thinks it would be a mistake to get too close to the EU, because this could serve the narrative of right-wing populists:
Downing Street believes that part of the appeal of both Trump and our homegrown [British] strain of rightwing populism lies in how institutions like the EU became too detached from the people they were meant to serve. In short, [the UK government is] determined not to be seen defending the status quo.
Thoughts?
Well if he knows, he is not showing it. Starmer has been cozying up to US tech giants and lawmakers a lot lately. He needs to do a complete 180 and start nationalizing more of UK infrastructure instead of less.
Serving the interests of right wingers is worse than serving their narrative. Stop giving in to nazis or you will get what the US has.
I'm not saying I necessarily agree with the idea that getting too close to the EU would be a mistake. I think it makes a lot of sense for the UK to have strong ties with the EU.
Brexit was a massive headache for Britain so I think that's why the UK government doesn't want to open up that argument again immediately. I guess Starmer does want to build stronger ties with Europe, but he probably wants Brexit-voters (many of whom were from poorer parts of the UK) to feel like their vote is being honoured. If they feel they have been completely ignored then they might give their support to Reform UK, Britain's equivalent of AfD.
Just vote on Brexit again, it will most likely turn out in favor of joining the EU and even if not then nothing changes. Then they cant say their vote was ignored.
I never understood why the torries thought implementing Brexit meant cutting all strings and burning each and every bridge though. They could've pursued a deal like Norway or Switzerland, if the vote was this narrow you could easily spin it as 'we want to find a solution that makes everybody happy'.