Starmer’s six Brexit tests – and we need many more, as well as a plan to deal with the Tories’ failure

Labour Against Brexit welcomed Keir Starmer’s opposition to the “hard” Brexit that currently appears to be developing, through the creation of his six key tests. He says Labour will not support any final deal with the EU if the tests are not met.

His tests are:

1. Does a deal it ensure a strong and collaborative future relationship with the EU?
2. Does it deliver the “exact same benefits” as we currently have as members of the single market and customs union?
3. Does it ensure the fair management of migration in the interests of the economy and communities?
4. Does it defend rights and protections and prevent a race to the bottom?
5. Does it protect national security and our capacity to tackle cross-border crime?
6. Does it deliver for all regions and nations of the UK?

However, we do not believe that his tests go far enough, nor can they truly be regarded as “tests”. They amount to no more than a wishlist, as there is no strategy apparent for when the wishes are not granted. There is no commitment to resist should the tests be deemed to have failed at any point in the coming months.

Test two, in particular, will be impossible to meet. What will Labour’s position be once this has been confirmed?

Will we demand that a second referendum is held on our EU membership, with an option to Remain, as leaving the single market and customs union was not on the ballot paper the first time around? Starmer has said that there will not be time to hold a second referendum before we have actually left, as the final deal will take longer than two years and we will be in transitional arrangements by that time. However, we will know before the two year deadline whether it is likely that we are going to have the “exact same benefits”, therefore there would in fact be time for a referendum.

Will we repeatedly ask the government to return to negotiations, even though we know that the remaining EU member states will never give us the “exact same benefits” if we leave the single market and customs union?

Will we allow the UK to leave the EU without a deal, and therefore have to fall onto WTO rules (which even Leave campaigners have argued against)?

Or, worst of all, will we eventually support Brexit, including the leaving of the single market and customs union, thereby failing Labour members and supporters to an even greater extent than has already taken place in the last few months with the three line whip to vote for Article 50?

Where is the seventh test on environmental protections, including waste reduction, greenhouse gas reduction (although this is also covered in separate climate change deals), and the continuation of laws that fall under the birds and habitats directives?

Or an eighth test stating that all proposed amendments to laws, or any proposal to abolish a law, will be subject to parliamentary scrutiny?

Does test three include guaranteed leave to remain for EU citizens currently in the UK, and protections for British citizens living in other member states? And who will define and be responsible for the “fair management” of migration, ensuring that members of communities that are hostile to migrants do not have their views tolerated and acted upon?

Does test four include consumer protections, alongside employment rights?

Does test six ensure that there are no hard borders, either in Northern Ireland or Gibraltar? Does it also include ensuring that maintaining the union between Scotland and the rest of the UK is seen as more important that leaving the EU?

Ultimately, Labour Against Brexit does not believe that the Labour Party should be accepting any form of Brexit, for the simple reason that it is not acting in the national interest. Most significantly, we know it will hurt the very people that the party has spent over a century trying to help, and it will hurt them first and hardest.

The party has been pro-EU for 30 years, we campaigned for Remain, the vast majority of us voted for Remain, and notably our party conference voted to keep the option to Remain if certain conditions were not met, including through a possible second referendum. The ballot paper did not mention leaving the single market or customs union, the campaign was misleading in many areas – such as with regards to the funding of the NHS – and many people who can normally vote in elections were excluded from the referendum. And the result was extremely close.

Just as the government has no mandate for a “hard” Brexit, so too the Labour Party has no mandate to support even a “soft” Brexit.

But if you are going to support a “soft” Brexit, Mr Starmer, please tell us what will happen if your wishlist is not fulfilled.

Emma Brennan is a member of Labour Against Brexit.