Keir Starmer says Brexit debate is ‘over’ and focus must be on getting a deal

Keir Starmer appears on LBC Radio. Photograph: LBC/Global. - Credit: Archant

Labour leader Keir Starmer has told a pro-EU campaigner that the Brexit debate is ‘over’ and that the political focus must now be on ensuring the government gets a good deal with the EU.

Starmer told the radio caller: ‘It’s no secret that I voted for Remain and campaigned for Remain. But we have left the EU.

‘Therefore, it is very important for me to say that the Leave-Remain divide is over. It is gone.

‘The argument now is what the future relationship with the EU should look like and relationships and deals with the rest of the world.

‘We argued over Leave and Remain for three and a half years. It’s over. We have left.’

Pressed by presenter Nick Ferrari on whether he felt that there should be an extension due to the coronavirus pandemic, Starmer did not directly answer.

He said: ‘The government says it’s going to get this deal done in the time available and we’re going to hold them to account on that.

‘The talks are on-going and we’re watching very closely.

‘I don’t want to end up with no-deal, but the government says it will get it done by the end of the negotiating period and we’ll hold them to that.’


Have your say
Send your letters for publication to The New European by emailing letters@theneweuropean.co.uk and pick up an edition each Thursday for more comment and analysis. Find your nearest stockist here or subscribe to a print or digital edition for just £13. You can also join our readers' Facebook group to keep the discussion and debate going with thousands of fellow pro-Europeans.