David Lammy the Deputy Prime Minister gestures as he speaks during the annual Labour Party conference in Liverpool, England, Monday, Sept. 29, 2025.

David Lammy has suggested rejoining the EU customs union could help boost UK economic growth, marking the strongest pro-EU intervention yet from a senior minister.

The deputy prime minister – who is also the justice secretary – told the News Agents podcast on Wednesday it was “self-evident that leaving the European Union badly damaged our economy, took us out of the market economy and created serious friction, that untruths were being peddled”.

“It’s why every single day that I was foreign secretary, I returned to the subject of our relationship with the European Union,” he said.

Pressed specifically if he thinks the UK should join a customs union, Lammy initially dodged the question before saying: “That is not currently our policy.

“That’s not currently where we are. But you can see countries like Turkey with a customs union seemingly benefitting and seeing growth in their economy and again, that’s self-evident.”

But he carefully added that his remarks are “subject to collective responsibility”, meaning he has to speak in line with the prime minister.

Liberal Democrat Dr Al Pinkerton asked the prime........

© HuffPost