Only a few months ago, Sir Keir Starmer was making headlines as Shadow Brexit Secretary for his role moving the Labour leadership in favour of a second referendum. However, since taking over the party, Sir Keir has gone rather quiet on the matter. On the day the Government openly admitted it was going to break international law by overwriting parts of last year’s withdrawal agreement, the Labour leader did not launch any political attacks on the Prime Minister.
This is despite the civil service’s top lawyer Jonathan James quitting in protest over the decision.
Sir Keir, a lawyer himself, focussed his Brexit intervention on the message that the issue had been settled and the divide between Leave and Remain was over.
He told Sky News: “We have left the EU, and therefore the arguments about Leave and Remain that tore us apart for years are over.
“I’m very clear therefore what’s now in the national interest is getting a deal.
“We need to get a deal and we need to move on.”
It can be argued that the reason why Sir Keir is so determined not to talk about Brexit is that he knows it was the very reason Labour suffered its worst defeat since 1935 at the last general election.
However, in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, Ashford councillor and general secretary of Labour Leave Brendan Chilton argued that if Sir Keir was Prime Minister, he would still push for a soft Brexit.
He said: “That is very hypothetical.
“We can only go on what was on the Labour manifesto.
“I think he would go with the deal they wanted, which was namely remaining in the customs union and being closely aligned to the single market.
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The prominent eurosceptic noted: “They still have a journey here to go.
“The real test for Labour will come later this year, in a month or two.
“If Boris comes back with a deal that is less than substantial, will Labour support it?
“And if it is a choice between a terrible deal and no deal, will they be prepared to support no deal?
“That will be when Labour’s true colours on Brexit are revealed and whether or not we have, as a party, really learnt the lesson from last year’s election.”
