Plenty of Labour figures who voted Remain are now urging the government to complete a trade agreement with the European Union before the end of the transition period. ‘There isn’t a choice between a fantasy deal and no deal,’ says Liam Byrne. ‘It’s this deal versus no deal, and we will not have a manufacturing industry left unless there is a deal.’ Although there is still a battle within the shadow cabinet on what to do should a UK-EU trade agreement come to parliament, the consensus seems to be that Keir Starmer would whip the party to vote for Johnson’s deal.
This marks a big shift in Labour’s Brexit strategy for two reasons – and might well come back to those Labour remainers cheering on Boris to do a deal.
Firstly, the deal they are pinning their hopes on will be considerably thinner and represent a much harsher Brexit than anything Theresa May would have come up with – and, in many cases, they rejected what she wanted out of hand.
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