Mark Littlewood says he's 'not so worried' about Tony Blair
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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will “slowly re-align” the UK with EU red tape if he becomes Prime Minister later this year, a Brexiteer and close ally of former PM Liz Truss has warned.
Mark Littlewood, director of Tory Party faction Popular Conservatism, also urged Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch to “get on with it” by sewing up international trade deals before any incoming Labour Government made it more difficult to negotiate them.
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Speaking to GB News' Martin Daubney, Mr Littlewood, previously Director General of the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA), was asked to comment former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s claim that Labour “must” re-set the UK’s relations with the EU.
Mr Littlewood said: “I'm not so worried that Tony Blair will be the Prime Minister and Keir Starmer, if Labour were to win, in name only.
“Tony Blair is clearly a huge figure in the Labour Party and what he says is listened to by the leader of the Labour Party, but I've got really bad news for you and for your viewers and for anyone who voted for Brexit.
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Tony Blair and Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch (Image: GETTY)
“And that's that this argument is never going to go away. It would be nice to think that we'd clarified it, closed it down, that’s it.”
Referring to the fractious process of quitting the bloc which followed the 2016 referendum, Mr Littlewood continued: “I know it took five years and endless wrangling but in fairness, the question of what should our relationship be with countries on the continent and the EU is always going to be a topic of debate.
“But here's my worry, that what the Labour Party will do is slowly re-align us with EU regulations and they will argue that that will facilitate trade with the EU.”
He added: “And on that narrow point, they might be right but it proves to be a huge barrier to actually negotiating trade deals with the rest of the world, because you're sat down saying we've already signed up to all of this with the EU, we can't negotiate with you about financial services, standards, pharmaceutical standards, because we've bought the whole EU rulebook hook line and sinker.
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“What I'd like to see this Government do before the election is to tie down some more trade deals…and if you start wedding yourselves into those deals, then it actually becomes harder for a future government to re-embed us in the EU’s regulatory orbit.
“So, my plea to Kemi Badenoch is to get on with it and fast.”
In an interview with The Sunday Times at the weekend, Mr Blair was asked about the future of relations with Brussels in the event that Labour prevails in the forthcoming general election - which Rishi Sunak has yet to set a date for.
The 70-year-old said: “It would be wise to reset it.
Former UK Prime Minister and europhile Tony Blair (Image: Getty)
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“There are too many things that affect us that are going on in Europe.
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“In any event, we’ve got a trade negotiation coming up in 2025.
“At the moment we’re outside the big political union on our own continent and we’ve got a disrupted trading relationship with our biggest trading partner, so you’ve got to fix this stuff.”
Sir Keir has ruled out rejoining the EU - but is on record as saying he would like to improve what he called the “thin” trade deal struck by Boris Johnson.
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