Kier Starmer Brexit speech in Harlow
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Keir Starmer MP, Labour’s Shadow Brexit Secretary, speaking at an
event in Harlow this morning, said: Thank you Laura,
and thanks to all of you for being here today. It’s so
invigorating being out here on the campaign trail fighting for a
truly radical Labour Government and supporting great candidates
like Laura. And this election really
matters. If Boris Johnson wins, our country will take
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Keir Starmer MP, Labour’s Shadow Brexit
Secretary, speaking at an event in Harlow this morning,
said:
Thank you Laura, and thanks to all of you for being here
today.
It’s so invigorating being out here on the campaign trail
fighting for a truly radical Labour Government and supporting
great candidates like Laura.
And this election really matters.
If Boris Johnson wins, our country will take a
decisive lurch to the right.
His Brexit deal is a hard-right deal. It paves the way for
workplace rights, environmental protections and consumer
standards to be stripped away.
It will do huge damage to our manufacturing
industries.
It will weaken the Union.
And it will make every region and nation
poorer.
The Tories haven’t provided any economic analysis of the
deal.
There’s a reason for that!
Because we know what the cost is likely to be: the economy
£70 billion smaller. Britain permanently poorer. On top of a
decade of Tory austerity.
That’s the last thing we need. And I don’t remember that
being written on the side of a bus!
Johnson’s deal also poses a further risk.
A huge risk: A trap door to no deal.
No 10 are now so obsessed with chasing the Brexit Party
that they confirmed yesterday that a Tory majority government
will not extend the transition period.
I’m not sure if that was a “dead in a ditch” promise or
just a regulation No 10 commitment but it was certainly
revealing.
Because it means the Tories would only have until July –
just seven months – to negotiate the whole future economic and
security relationship with the EU.
That’s some task. Particularly after failing for the last
three and a half years.
And this time if they fail, there is no safety net: only a
trap door to no deal.
So, make no mistake. A vote for the Tories is a vote to put
no deal back on the table.
A vote for Labour is a vote to rule it out.
But this election is not just about the price of Johnson’s
Brexit and the risk of a trap door to no deal.
It’s about the political direction of travel. Where his
deal will take our country.
We know what the destination is for Johnson: He wants to
turn away from Europe – away from strong workplace rights and
environmental standards – away from our shared
values.
For him, that’s always been the purpose of
Brexit.
And once he’s done that, where will he turn? To America and
to Donald Trump.
Our NHS up for sale.
Workplace rights up for sale.
Less protection for the environment, just when we need
more.
That is a hard-right race-to-the-bottom deal.
We have to stop it.
Which brings me to Labour’s position.
After three and a half years of Tory failure, there’s only
one way now to solve this.
This has to go back to the people.
So, we will first rip us Johnson’s deal.
Next, we will secure the best possible deal – including: a
customs union, single market alignment and protection for rights
and the environment.
People challenge me that such a deal is not
possible.
I absolutely reject that.
Having had many hours of discussions with political leaders
across Europe, I am confident that such a deal can be secured and
secured quickly.
That deal will then be put to a referendum with Remain as
the other option.
Under a Labour Government: Remain will be on the ballot
paper.
And the referendum will be held within 6
months.
The public will have the final say on a very
straight-forward question: Do you want to leave with the deal
that has been secured? Or would you rather stay in the
EU?
And the result will be binding.
But that is only half the story: because we are never going
to get past the Brexit question unless we also tackle the gross
inequalities and injustices, we see all around us.
The Tories have been in power for nearly ten
years.
Three different Prime Ministers: each worse than the
last.
The state of our country. Our communities. Our public
services is down to them and down to their political
choices.
So, this election is about so much more than
Brexit.
It’s about what type of society we are.
What type of country we want to live in.
It’s about what our values are.
It’s about whether we tackle the climate emergency or
ignore it.
Whether we rebuild our NHS, or sell it off to
Trump.
Whether we tackle inequality and injustice or watch it get
worse.
The choice is that stark.
Lose and we face more lost years. A hard right Brexit and a
hard-right government.
Win and Labour can pull this country back from the brink:
end austerity, rebuild our public services and invest in our
communities.
The stakes could not be higher.
We can, and we must, win.
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