Britain Faces Growing Calls to Rejoin EU Customs Union as Cabinet Split Emerges

The debate over Britain’s post-Brexit trading relationship with the European Union has intensified after Health Secretary Wes Streeting publicly advocated for joining a customs union with Europe, directly contravening Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s stated policy position. The move signals a significant challenge within the Cabinet and comes as recent polling reveals overwhelming support for renegotiating ties among Labour voters.

A recent YouGov poll conducted for The Times indicates that 80 percent of Labour supporters and 78 percent of Liberal Democrat voters favour a new leadership committed to entering a customs union with the EU. Even among Conservative voters, 39 percent support the measure. Despite this, Starmer continues to reject renewed membership, maintaining that such a step would compromise key trade agreements reached since Brexit, including those with India and the United States. He has described a return to a customs union as a red line, while government sources accuse Streeting of positioning himself for a future leadership challenge.

Streeting, in an interview with The Observer, argued that Britain’s exit from the EU inflicted a substantial economic cost, citing sluggish growth, high taxation and persistent national indebtedness. He asserted that a deeper trading relationship with the EU represents the most effective avenue for economic recovery. According to Streeting, the government’s current reset plan, aimed at brokering a fresh trade and cooperation agreement with the EU, does not go far enough to restore lost economic benefits.

He differentiated between a customs union, which simplifies the movement of goods without reinstating freedom of movement for people, and membership of the EU single market, which would require the acceptance of freedom of movement. Streeting stated that closer economic ties remain possible without reopening debates over migration policy.

The sharp divisions within Labour’s ranks have become more pronounced. Thirteen Labour MPs recently rebelled, voting with the Liberal Democrats in favour of rejoining the customs union. Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy has repeatedly refused to clarify his stance, while former Foreign Secretary David Miliband has estimated Brexit costs British trade between £15 billion and £30 billion annually. Economists broadly concur that absence from the customs union has contributed to a three percent reduction in GDP growth.

Polling also reveals an appetite for even broader rapprochement with Europe, with 73 percent of Labour voters supporting renewed negotiations to rejoin the EU and 50 percent of the general electorate backing such an approach. The government’s limited reforms are expected to increase GDP by only 0.3 percent, underlining the limited impact of incremental adjustments compared to more ambitious integration.