Keir Starmer before the election, cosying up to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Via Flickr (Keir Starmer, CC BY 2.0).
The new government rules out rejoining the EU, but acts as if it wants to adopt by stealth all those things British workers rejected in 2016 – above all a return to free movement of labour, open borders.
Keir Starmer knows that the working class would not let him openly return Britain to the EU. Previous governments failed to grasp the potential of leaving the EU. Workers did not create the pressure to make that happen – and Labour in opposition did all it could to keep Britain in.
There’s nothing to be gained by looking back to re-fight Brexit. What’s needed now is to assert the interests of British workers for the future of our country. That will certainly mean resisting policies that take Britain closer to the EU and rejecting the illusion that anything good can come of that approach.
The government says it wants a security pact with the EU, more trade and a deal on migration. Yet the EU is clear there will be no concessions on trade without agreement to free movement of labour.
The EU was ruthless in Brexit negotiations – forcing through a poor deal for Britain. Its influence is much diminished, but is not eliminated. And there’s no chance that its attitude will be any different in negotiating a closer relationship. It has already talked about regaining access to our fishing grounds, for example.
The risk is that this government, like its predecessors, will make concessions to appease the EU, gaining nothing in return. And workers cannot look to the EU for protection against employers, or our own government.
The ruling class attack upon workers’ living standards is ever-present – before, during and after Britain’s membership of the EU. Capitalism here doesn’t need the EU to continue exploiting us.
Boris Johnson’s idea of “Global Britain” was a vision of subservience to global capitalist markets rather than the EU alone. Starmer’s manifesto claim to “reconnect Britain globally” – leading with “unshakable commitment to NATO” – differs only in emphasis and not substance.
The Labour Party manifesto pledged to seek an “ambitious” new UK-EU security pact, saying that a Labour government would “rebuild relationships with key European allies”.
And since NATO and the EU are closely in step, Britain doesn’t have to rejoin the EU to get the “fullest involvement in EU defence efforts”. This pact would be about strengthening the drive to war.
The EU helped to facilitate all the things capitalism needs to flourish and made it harder to fight them. That’s why we must oppose moving closer to the EU – whether openly or by stealth.
We must use the independence we won in 2016 and unite our class in order to become truly independent. Our class needs to work out how to become independent of capitalism, not flirt with the failed EU project.