Lammy dismisses Streeting’s call for UK to rejoin EU as ‘sixth form’ debating position – UK politics live | Politics

Labor Party Member of Parliament Jonathan Engel He told the Today program this morning that Wes Streeting’s suggestion that the UK rejoin the EU was “an astonishing amount of disconnect”.

Engel said:

It’s only been a week since we took a real beating at the heart of the working class.

It’s a very long list; We’re talking about the Hartlepools, the Grimsbys, the Barnsleys, places like Wigan where this by-election was going to be held and we were losing to a party. [Reform UK] until recently it was called the Brexit party.

And to suggest that the solution for us now is to reopen this debate is truly shocking, and Labor is in an existential crisis, it really is, and the idea that we can reconnect with our working class base by reopening this debate is just a staggering level of disconnect.

Good morning. Harold Wilson was right; a week is a long time etc. Seven days ago the biggest threat to Keir Starmer was Catherine West’s inchoate challenge. A week later, with Andy Burnham on track to return to Westminster in the next few weeks, it now looks unlikely Burnham will become prime minister in the autumn, perhaps sooner, and Keir Starmer will leave office.

We’ll probably hear from Starmer himself this morning. Meanwhile, David LammyThe deputy prime minister is on a broadcasting tour. Like Peter Walker Lammy insisted he would not set a timetable for Starmer’s departure, according to reports.

This is the public position. Privately, however, Starmer’s stance seems a little more nuanced; In yesterday’s story, Kiran Stacey quoted Starmer’s friendsays: “[Starmer’s] The position is not ‘I will survive no matter what’. “It depends on what happens, but it’s also about not rushing into positions that suit certain other factions in the Labor Party.”

Burnham isn’t the only candidate to become the next Labor leader. Wes StreetThe former health secretary also wants the job and announced at the weekend that he would like to see Britain rejoin the EU.

Burnham’s allies interpreted this as a hostile move because it puts Burnham under pressure to either endorse the idea, which would be unpopular in Makerfield, the leave-voting constituency where she wants to fight in the by-election, or to distance herself from the idea (despite being on record as saying Britain should eventually rejoin), which would be unpopular given Labour’s pro-EU membership.

In his interview on the Today program, lammy he dismissed it as a “sixth form argument”. Asked about Europe, he said Labor had been elected with a manifesto rejecting joining the single market or customs union. When asked what the next manifesto should be, he said that he did not want to discuss an issue that could happen three years later. He also said Labor should focus on delivery, not internal debates.

We have the opportunity of a lifetime to serve on behalf of the British people. This is not a sixth form debate. This is a delivery on behalf of the British people.

When asked what he meant by the sixth form discussion, he replied:

In the sixth form you can discuss what the country-wide position should be on Europe.

Lammy also claimed Labor could not allow this kind of internal debate to go on for much longer.

I say to my colleagues, I think the British people will forgive us for this introspection, for this 10-day sentence. We’re going to be in big trouble for ten weeks, leaving the office, and here’s what will herald it: [Nigel] Farage.

In one sense, the phrase “sixth form debate” seemed an arrogant way of describing an important question facing Britain’s future. But on another level, Lammy was right to claim that discussing EU membership does not make much sense at the moment. There is no way Brussels would want to open serious talks on re-accession, where there is a strong possibility that Reformation Britain will form the next government, and as foreign minister of (pro-British) Poland. Radosław Sikorski, As EU members have recently warned, the British see no point in continuing negotiations until they realize that any future membership deal will not be as good as the one we had before.

Here is the agenda of the day.

Morning: Keir Starmer is expected to speak to the media during his visit with new health minister James Murray.

11.30: A lobby briefing is being held in Downing Street.

Lunch time: Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester and potential Labor candidate for Makerfield, will speak at the Great Northern Investment Summit in Leeds.

Afternoon: Nicola Ranger, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, speaks at the RCN conference.

14.30: MPs continue their discussions about the king’s speech with a business focus.

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