Peter Kyle hints at push for EU customs union return
Business and trade secretary Peter Kyle suggested joining the EU’s customs union could improve the UK’s economic prospects, with new data suggesting that trade flows in London boomed last year.
After being asked twice whether war in the Middle East provided a stronger case for the UK to join the customs union, Kyle refused to rule out a return to the customs union.
He talked up building closer ties with the EU as offering the “best opportunity” for the country’s trade prospects and for the UK economy to “fulfil its potential”.
While he hailed deals with the likes of the US and India that would not have been agreed if the country was part of the customs union, Kyle later suggested that he did not want to get “bogged down by institutional relationships” and directly linked the UK to European countries in a global competition for businesses to grow.
“We need to seek opportunities as a continent because we are missing out on the wealth, the job creation and also the power, both hard and soft, that comes with the scale of innovation that America and China are capable of doing at this moment,” Kyle told CityAM.
“I don’t want to get bogged down in which institutional relationships we have when we have this huge opportunity to do things that actually transcend a lot of it as well.”
Kyle also hinted that upcoming negotiations with the economic bloc’s chiefs should go beyond food standards and energy markets, covering areas such as health technology, clean energy and automation.
Kyle follows senior Labour figures
The business secretary has previously refused to rule out rejoining the EU’s customs union despite government officials insisting that there were “red lines” on the terms of negotiations in the ‘Brexit reset’.
In recent weeks, senior Labour figures have talked up the prospects of building closer ties with the EU.
Health secretary West Streeting has also reportedly endorsed a return to the EU’s customs union. Chancellor Rachel Reeves said Brexit had stripped eight per cent off growth and left the UK at risk of being “stranded” between powerful trading blocs.
London mayor Sadiq Khan went further by arguing for Labour to campaign on a promise to rejoin the EU at upcoming elections.
Reeves said earlier this week that the UK would look to clinch the first deal on areas including food trade in the “Brexit reset” by the end of the year, with the government making trade a central pillar in its drive to improve growth.
The EU has angered some officials in Westminster by making the UK government pay billions to access the Security Action for Europe (Safe) funds, with Keir Starmer suggesting that the collapse of talks was “disappointing”.
The bloc also followed the US to impose new steel tariffs, with Kyle announcing a similar move last week.