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Starmer's great reset strategy is to Make Brussels Boring Again
The Guardian
|April 24, 2025
There are those in the Labour party who would like to see Keir Starmer embrace a more romantic pro-Europe story, to extol the UK's European values and solidarity as a counter to those of Donald Trump.
But that is not this prime minister's style. So there will be a more ambitious EU reset but in the most low-key way possible. The aim in Downing Street is to Make Brussels Boring Again.
It seems fertile ground for the UK to seek closer trade ties with Brussels, and in No 10 there is a will to do it, as long as the words "single market", "customs union" and "freedom of movement" do not appear anywhere.
There are three key reasons why the UK can think bolder. The first is the most obvious: the international turmoil caused by the US's wildly wavering support for Ukraine and by Trump's tariffs has made Brussels a far more willing partner in the coming negotiations.
This story is from the April 24, 2025 edition of The Guardian.
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