Labour assumed power without a significant overarching strategy for the UK's future relationship with the European Union, according to Ivan Rogers, who served as Britain's EU Ambassador from 2013 to 2017. Mr Rogers described the party's manifesto proposals on the EU as a 'ragbag of issues' that fail to 'remotely measure up to the challenge of the times' and would make 'no measurable difference to the UK macroeconomy'.
A decade after the UK's vote to leave the EU, Mr Rogers expressed his view that it was 'close to incomprehensible' that Sir Keir Starmer, a former Shadow Brexit Secretary, had pursued a single market for goods without free movement of people. He argued that this approach is an 'option which the EU is always bound to reject' as it crosses well-established red lines. This mirrors concerns raised recently when it emerged the government sent a senior official to Brussels with a similar proposition, which EU officials likened to Theresa May's unsuccessful Chequers plan.
Mr Rogers, a highly experienced European diplomat who resigned in January 2017 following a Conservative party backlash over his Brexit negotiation advice, has consistently been a critic of both Theresa May's and Boris Johnson's governments for what he saw as failures to explain the realities and trade-offs of Brexit. In his latest comments, he suggested Labour came to power 'unprepared' and without a 'serious, thought-through set of propositions' to address what they have termed a 'botched Brexit'.
Referencing recent remarks by the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and Sir Keir Starmer about the 'deep damage' caused by Brexit, Mr Rogers noted: 'They are further talking up the severe damage they believe has stemmed from the version of Brexit they inherited. But there is then no coherent punchline to that analysis.' He characterised Labour's specific pledges, such as a veterinary agreement with the EU, help for touring artists, and mutual recognition of professional qualifications, as 'worthy technocratic fare' but 'irrelevant' to the broader question of the UK's long-term vision within Europe.
The former ambassador also highlighted Labour's own 'red lines' – ruling out membership of the single market or a customs union – as 'massively constraining what you could ever deliver with your key trading and investment partners'. He acknowledged the political complexities surrounding free movement of people but warned that the Treasury and the Bank of England would strongly oppose a 'Norwegian model', where financial services provisions would largely be dictated by the EU without UK representation.
Mr Rogers recalled warning EU counterparts about the risk of Brexit as early as 2011 or 2012 and described the state of shock in Whitehall the day after the 2016 referendum. He expressed concern that the EU's agreed red lines towards the UK from that June 2016 summit remain fixed a decade later, underscoring the enduring challenges for any British government navigating its relationship with the bloc.