Could Labour, under a new leader, go into the next election with a manifesto promising to start negotiations to rejoin the EU? It is beginning to look like a real possibility given Wes Streeting’s assertion that Britain should rejoin the customs union. If Britain were to become part of the customs union, it would make questionable sense to remain outside the single market, and if Britain were to rejoin the single market, it could be sold as little more than a tidying-up exercise to apply for full membership of the EU.  

Streeting’s remarks have left Keir Starmer – who spent months in opposition calling for a second referendum which he hoped would overturn the result of the first – in the odd position of looking (relatively) like a Eurosceptic. As he points out, joining the customs union would undo two of his government’s genuine achievements: completing the trade deal with India which was begun by the Conservatives, and........

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