The minister tasked with resetting the UK’s relationship with the European Union has ruled out a customs union with the bloc – and said he does not believe Britain will ever return to the EU.
Ahead of a speech in Brussels on Monday, European affairs minister Nick Thomas-Symonds told The Independent “there is no appetite” to return to the debates of the past over EU membership.
While he insists that the government wants to develop closer ties with the EU, particularly as the world becomes a more dangerous place, Mr Thomas-Symonds ruled out any sort of deal that would lead to the UK and the EU entering a customs union.
He said that even a bespoke version, like the agreements the bloc has with countries like Turkey and Norway, is off the cards.
In December, 13 Labour MPs rebelled and backed a Liberal Democrat bill to rejoin the customs union, which was passed in the Commons.
Mr Thomas-Symonds likened the idea of promising a customs union to the infamous Vote Leave bus, which carried a message about extra funding for the NHS.
He said: “We won’t have a customs union. We will never go back to the days of making undeliverable promises on the side of red buses.”
His comments come ahead of a major speech on Brexit by chancellor Rachel Reeves on Tuesday, where she will be “making the positive case” for closer alignment between Britain and the EU.
Mr Thomas-Symonds said: “We have to be clear that alignment is not a dirty word.”
The Cabinet Office confirmed that he hopes to have a new deal in place on food, drink and youth movement in time for the 10th anniversary of the EU referendum on 23 June.
But asked if the UK could go back into the EU one day, Mr Thomas-Symonds told The Independent: “I don’t see that, and I don’t see us returning to the debates of the past.
“What we’ve always been about, in this, is looking forward. I get a sense, because I’m talking to people up and down the country on a weekly basis, that there is support for the closer relationship that we have already built and are building. And I think there is no appetite to reopen the debate.”
For his Labour colleagues and others who want much closer ties with the bloc, the comments will come as a disappointment.
Among the senior figures who have spoken in favour of a customs union with the EU is deputy prime minister David Lammy, who said in December that countries in such unions see a boost to their economy.
Mr Lammy said it was “self-evident” that Brexit had been economically damaging, and highlighted that Turkey had seen growth as a result of its union with the bloc.
Weeks later, health secretary Wes Streeting also called for deeper trade ties between Britain and the EU, in comments that appeared to suggest he would be open to Britain rejoining the customs union.
But Mr Thomas-Symonds insisted that “already a great deal” has been achieved in the UK/EU reset, which he said has been “guided by the British national interest” and is worth £9bn to the economy. He warned that this would be put at risk by Nigel Farage’s Reform or Kemi Badenoch’s Conservative Party if they won power and went ahead with plans to tear up the agreements.
The EU is negotiating for heavy penalty clauses if a future UK government should try to back out of the reset deals being negotiated, in a bid to tie them in. But Mr Thomas-Symonds acknowledged that there are challenges.
One of the major areas he was referring to is ensuring that the UK is included in the EU’s “made in Europe” arrangements, which could hit carmakers such as Nissan in the northeast of England in particular. But he said that the UK government is “working every day, every week” to ensure that it does not lock British producers out.
“The UK and the EU are facing very similar challenges going forward. We on both sides of the channel are looking to generate growth that is central to this government’s mission. Erecting trade barriers between us is just going to create mutual damage. That’s not in either side’s interest,” he said.
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