Will Labour buckle and seek customs union talks?

In a rare case of the Liberal Democrats making the political weather, Ed Davey’s party has managed to put the question of Britain’s ties with Europe back on the political agenda, despite attempts by Downing Street to avoid the festering wound of Brexit.

- SEAN O'GRADY

A 10-minute rule bill calling on the government to open talks on a new EU-UK customs union was put before the Commons by Lib Dem spokesperson on Europe, Al Pinkerton. Although it was never likely to become law, it was backed by more than a dozen Labour MPs, which puts fresh pressure on Keir Starmer to revisit the issue.

Davey said the symbolic vote “was a historic victory” against “the economic nightmare of the Conservatives’ broken Brexit deal”.

What is this proposed new UK-EU customs union?

In truth, it is not a customs union at all. That’s an arrangement in which nations agree to abolish tariffs and similar barriers to free trade within their borders and to impose an agreed common tariff on other countries outside their union. The EU Customs Union dates back as far as 1944 when it began between Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. It is not as extensive and intrusive a regime as a full single market, which requires common standards.