Why did Lammy refuse to rule out a customs union?

The deputy prime minister has hinted that Labour is tiptoeing towards reversing Brexit (PA)

- JOHN RENTOUL

David Lammy, the deputy prime minister, refused seven times to rule out rejoining the EU in an interview on Thursday.

He said that Brexit had “badly damaged our economy”, but when he was asked if Britain should form a customs union with the EU, he said that this was not “currently” on Labour’s agenda, even though it was “self-evident” that other nations had “seen growth” by doing it.

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, had said on Wednesday that Labour should undo “the economic damage done by Brexit”. The day before that, on Tuesday, Keir Starmer surprised the cabinet by announcing that Nick Thomas-Symonds, the minister for EU relations, would be attending cabinet meetings - a status upgrade for the minister responsible for negotiating the “reset” in UK-EU relations.

All of which followed reports that Minouche Shafik, who was appointed as the prime minister’s economic adviser in September, has been pushing for closer ties with the EU as the quickest route to higher economic growth.

What is going on?