Starmer is finally ready to fix damage done by Brexit

At last, Labour is waking up to the damage done by Brexit and seems intent on doing something about it.

- CHRIS BLACKHURST

There is political pragmatism involved, which is that a clear majority of voters now say they regard leaving the EU as a mistake. For a party desperate to put distance between themselves and Reform, plus the Tories, this has obvious merit. It's a yawning ideological divide - and one that is simply argued.

Of course, there is the past to contend with, when Labour went along with the decision to exit, conscious that the Brexiteer Tories were making inroads in its blue-collar heartlands. There is also the present, which is that Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves insist they were and are listening to business, when virtually the entire business community was and is anti-Brexit and worse, they went and imposed tax rises that have hit businesses hard.

Still, they do seem, finally, to have come round to the idea that Brexit was a catastrophic mistake economically, one that was self-imposed and Britain would be far better off if relations with the EU were repaired and barriers against the free movement of goods and people were scrapped.

Starmer this week lambasted the “wild promises” made by Brexit campaigners and said the UK was “still dealing with the consequences today, in our economy, and in trust”. He added: “The idea that leaving the EU was the answer to all our cares and concerns has clearly been proved wrong.”

This being Starmer, as ever he injected a note of fence-sitting caution, emphasising that he would “always respect” the outcome of the referendum.