Keir Starmer has been urged to “get serious” about boosting the economy and forge closer links with the EU as the UK prepares to formally join a partnership of Asia-Pacific countries he once said would yield “very small” benefits.
Rishi Sunak’s government predicted that the post-Brexit trade deal would grow the economy by a tiny 0.08 per cent, but it later emerged that even that may be an overestimate, according to the government’s own documents.
After failing to secure its original objective of a Brexit trade deal with the United States, the Tory government presented joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) as a flagship agreement and a major benefit of leaving the European Union. Last year, while still in opposition, Sir Keir warned that the benefits would be “very small”.
At the time the Labour leader added that it was “good to have a new trade deal, but better to have a closer relationship with the EU to go alongside it”.
Dominic Grieve, co-president of European Movement UK, said: “Whatever the benefits of being part of the CPTPP, they can never come close to the benefits to the UK economy of being part of the single market.
“With the latest figures showing that our growth is flatlining, it’s time for common sense to finally prevail, and for the Government to recognise that being serious about boosting our economy means being serious about forging a closer relationship with the European Union.”
The CPTPP is a free trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
Were Britain to rejoin the EU, it would have to leave the CPTPP as separate free trade agreements are incompatible with being inside Europe’s single market and customs union. So far, Labour has ruled out any return to the customs union or single market.
The prime minister has vowed to reset the UK’s relationship with the EU, fixing it for the benefit of “generations to come”. But he has faced claims that he is not going fast or far enough.
Documents released alongside the Budget showed Brexit is on course to cut UK trade by 15 per cent, according to the government’s independent financial watchdog.
Vote Leave campaigners argued that British trade would receive a boost from exiting the European Union in the run up to 2016’s referendum.
But the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said that “weak growth in imports and exports over the medium term partly reflect the continuing impact of Brexit, which we expect to reduce the overall trade intensity of the UK economy by 15 per cent in the long term.”
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said:“The UK is pursuing a twin track approach to trade, implementing CPTPP, as well as pursuing free trade agreements with the likes of India and the GCC, while simultaneously resetting the relationship with our European friends.
“This will strengthen ties and tackle barriers to trade with the EU, to grow our economy and make working people better off*”