Never mind the football.. let’s celebrate the end of Brexit omerta

For a government that didn’t want to talk about Brexit, Keir Starmer’s new administration certainly does seem to be doing a fair bit of talking about Brexit.

During the election campaign, trying to drag a sentence from the leader of the opposition about Britain and Europe brought back memories of Michael Parkinson trying to interview Meg Ryan. Now, in power, the new prime minister is positively loquacious and sounds bullish about the prospects of getting “a better deal than the botched deal that Boris Johnson brought home” at the end of 2019.

“In the meantime, he says, he will “get on with implementing the important changes that are necessary under the existing arrangements we have got, because we are not going to be able to get a better relationship unless we demonstrate a commitment to the relationship and the agreements that have already been put in place.”

The new foreign secretary, David Lammy, wants to “seize the opportunity” and clinch a far-reaching security pact that would put Britain back at the table when the European Union discusses its response to crises like Ukraine, Gaza and the Sahel. This, he says, will be “just the beginning” of closer links between Westminster and Brussels.

New defence secretary John Healey wants a “bespoke” deal to give the UK access to the European Defence Fund, co-ordinating investment in defence research. Jonathan Reynolds, the new business secretary, is talking up a new agreement of food standards to see Brexit red tape reduced so we can sell more whisky and salmon with fewer barriers.

And the new science minister Sir Patrick Vallance, while praising the last government’s welcome if drawn-out decision to re-enter the Horizon funding scheme for big science projects, wants visa rules eased for scientific researchers. Talking to the BBC’s Sarah Montague, he said that Brexit had been “definitely a problem for science”, and that now “people need to know the UK is open for science partnerships”. He added: “We need to be as competitive as other countries in terms of attracting… talent.”

Vallance’s candour was judged “bizarre” by the pro-Brexit Spectator, and with Boris Johnson already harumphing about Brexit betrayal under Starmer, the risks of all this are clear. Labour did not spend six campaign weeks not talking about Brexit only to spend its first six months talking about nothing but.

But as my colleague Steve Richards argued in a typically perceptive pre-election piece, Starmer can no longer shy away from the issue. As expected, Nigel Farage – who loves nothing more than a betrayal myth – is in Westminster and already soaking up the airtime and column inches. It is time, therefore, to go on the attack.

As Steve wrote: “Starmer has used the symbols of patriotism with dogged determination… If he insists he is acting in the country’s interest as (Harold) Wilson did when he ‘renegotiated’ Britain’s terms of membership – and frames Farage and the populist right as the ones letting the country down – he has a patriotic narrative.

“The UK will be taking back more control by returning to its businesses the freedom to trade without an excess of friction and for people to travel without the stifling checks and queues that have become emblematic of the loss of control arising from the Johnson/Frost Brexit. Speedier supply chains mean cheaper prices to help with the cost of living crisis. There will be the ‘freedom’ to have access to cheaper goods.”

That is the argument Labour should make. Now Starmer has decided that we need to talk about Brexit, he must not stop.