Richard Hermer to say Brexit damaged UK’s world standing
A senior minister will argue that Brexit has done ‘damage’ to Britain’s standing in the world in an attack on political rivals including Nigel Farage and the Conservatives.
In a speech on Wednesday, Attorney General Richard Hermer will say key figures in the Leave campaign appear to be distancing themselves from ‘the promises they made’.
A debate over the future of the UK-EU relationship has reignited after Prime Minister Keir Starmer made closer ties with Brussels a key pillar of his ‘reset’ in the wake of Labour’s seismic May election losses.
Leadership hopeful Wes Streeting has since said leaving the bloc was a ‘catastrophic mistake’, while potential challenger Andy Burnham has sought to play down the prospect of reversing the 2016 referendum as he contests the Leave-voting seat of Makerfield in a parliamentary by-election.
The Attorney General, who is widely seen as one of the prime minister’s key allies in government, will say the politicians who brought the country Brexit have left his Labour administration ‘cleaning up their mess’.
He is also expected to warn those seeking to make the case for Europe should not repeat mistakes of the 2016 referendum and be seen as defenders of the status quo.
In a speech at an event held by the European Movement advocacy group, he will say: ‘Strikingly, the politicians who were key proponents of Brexit, and major figures in the campaign to Leave, now appear reluctant to remind us of the promises that they made.
‘When was the last time you heard Nigel Farage proudly talk about Brexit? Or make the case for the benefits it’s brought Britain?
‘The reason he has become uncharacteristically quiet about what he used to describe as his crowning achievement is because he knows the damage it caused Britain, our standing in the world, and our economy.’
The second EU-UK summit will take place in Brussels on July 22 as part of the Labour administration’s attempt to reset relations with the bloc a decade on from the Brexit vote.
A youth mobility deal, allowing British and EU member state citizens under 30 to live, work and study in each other’s countries, is set to be agreed at the summit.
But there have been wranglings over tuition fees for EU students in England, UK calls for a cap on the numbers who can take part in the scheme and uncertainty over the willingness of European nations to issue visas for British youths.
The date for the summit was announced as Starmer met the EU’s leaders in the margins of the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, where he said Britain would be at the ‘heart of Europe’ under his reset plans.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: ‘Lord Hermer should focus on his job as Attorney General.’
In a separate speech to the European Movement event on Wednesday, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey is expected to urge Labour’s leadership hopefuls to ‘move on from the torpor and timidity’ of the party’s approach so far.
Arguing that Brexit is costing Britain £250 million a day, Davey will say: ‘Labour’s red lines are holding Britain back. They are hurting the British people and playing into the hands of Farage and Reform.’
By Nina Lloyd, Press Association Political Correspondent
Press Association: News
source: PA
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