There is an essay by Nick Boles, published on demos website that argues to reframe Starmer’s EU reset by offering to extend Britain’s nuclear umbrella in exchange for a single market in goods. It is claimed this is circulating within government.
It has caused much excitement by the rejoin opposing press and its followers in the Labour Party. It has also been noted by some of the rejoin commentators as an item of hope.
It’s nonsense.
This proposal fails to recognise that, Starmer’s reset has failed, mostly through lack of ambition on the British side. This proposal is similar to the reset agreement made in May 25 which set an agenda, including an enhanced defence agreement. Not one single item of the reset has been finalised.
The one disappointment I have in Starmer being replaced is that the learning process on the subject of EU relations within the government has been set back. I believe the Starmer speech on 1st May, together with the House of Commons Select Committee report and the Fabian Society’s “Pressing Reset” shows that large elements of labour we’re ready to learn a new lesson.
What needs to be understood is that the European Union will not make an agreement that leaves a third country in a better position than either current members or aspirant members and it considers the single market as indivisible.
The proposal has the benefit to Labour’s Atlanticists that it embeds Britains commitment to the US designed strategic nuclear deterrent, and its proposed extension, the air based so called tactical nuclear weapons in exchange for minimal concessions from the EU. I say, minimal, splitting the single market which is what is proposed is not minimal, but if the UK is making the offer, it should be able to get more than a single market for goods, even if only seen from the nation of shopkeeper’s accountant’s lense.
The country needs a better deal on all three dimensions of the issue, defence, trade and international solidarity.
Labour’s NPF also shows a continuation of this lack of ambition, and a failure to learn from the failed two years of the Reset.
Rejoining the EU could be the easiest deal in the world if we just forget what we once had and embrace the economic benefits, the opportunity for deeper social relationships between our peoples, and the continued development of a force for peace, democracy and human rights.
This needs ambition and I am very unclear that Burnham’s government is ready for this.
Those of us that want to rejoin need to push harder and articulate achievable goals. The UK should join the single market now, and Labour should put that a Labour Government will seek to rejoin the EU in its next manifesto.
The Russian Ukraine border Sergey Bystro, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The more I consider the Boles proposals, the more I actually get angry with the idea. It is the epitome of the lack of ambition within elements of the pro-EU movement in the UK.
The framework for the UK co-operating with the EU on defence does not exist. NATO is, today, inappropriate for this role and likely to remain so while the EU has members who are not members. The European Political Community is not an appropriate vehicle to manage this issue.
While the EU has a mutual defence clause, this would rightly require full membership and the recognition that defence and foreign affairs co-operation are among the least mature areas of EU institutional management.
Are we really saying that the UK will extend its nuclear threat beyond NATO commitments? And that all we want is access to the single market for goods?
Deeper reading suggests this is a defence policy proposal, designed to prolong the UK and Europe’s defence vassalage to the USA and dilute the EU’s institutions’ powers in building powerful cultural and political union. Defending Ukraine is not an add-on to the proposals.