Keir Starmer has reconfirmed that Labour is an incoherent mess on Brexit

It is not often we would say this; but Lord Mandelson spoke for the nation when he was asked on BBC Newsnight to sum up the Labour Party’s policy on Brexit: “Search me,” he said. If the former cabinet minister and one-time EU commissioner cannot fathom what Jeremy Corbyn has in mind for the negotiations about Britain’s departure from Europe how can the country place any trust in him?

Sir Keir Starmer, Labour’s Brexit spokesman, a former Director of Public Prosecutions well able to construct a coherent argument, floundered as he used a speech and a series of media appearances to explain the policy.

The Government, he said, was dragging the UK towards the cliff-edge by taking options “off the table” for the forthcoming talks, by which he meant Theresa May’s insistence that Britain will leave the single market, the customs union and the jurisdiction of the European Court. Instead, her Government will seek to negotiate a bespoke deal that gives British business the best possible access to EU markets, preferably tariff-free.

It turns out, however, that Labour’s policy is remarkably similar. Sir Keir said he did not favour staying in the single market because that would mean free movement of people and the vote against the EU in many Labour areas was fuelled by concerns over immigration. He was also unclear about membership of the customs union, saying that Labour would seek to secure the best sector-by-sector deals, which is pretty much what the Government is saying.

Labour’s problem is that it has not really come to terms with the fact that the country voted to leave, and that the party’s lacklustre campaign ostensibly on behalf of Remain may have been instrumental in that outcome. The waters have been further muddied by the intervention of Tony Blair, the former Labour leader, suggesting the party’s supporters might consider voting for Lib Dem or Tory candidates if they would stand up to a “hard” Brexit.

This confusion leads to bizarre policy positions such as Sir Keir’s suggestion that if the eventual deal is not very good then Parliament should tell the Government to go back and get a better one – as if the Europeans would have any incentive to offer one in such circumstances. One thing is clear, however: it would not be in the national interest to send Mr Corbyn to negotiate this country’s post-Brexit future.

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