David Lammy love-bombs EU and insists Britain and Brussels 'speak with one voice'

10/14/2024 05:30 PM

LABOUR politicians ramped up their EU love-bombing campaigns yesterday with David Lammy insisting Britain and Brussels "speak with one voice".

Mr Lammy hailed a "historic moment" as he became the first minister to attend the EU's Foreign Affairs Council meeting for two years.

At the gathering in Luxembourg Mr Lammy and his 27 European counterparts discussed the war in Ukraine and conflicts raging in the Middle East.

Writing for Euronews alongside top Brussels bureaucrat Josep Borrell, the Foreign Secretary said: "In the long term, today is an opportunity to start laying the foundations of a stronger bond that protects us into the future.

"With the ambition for the EU and the UK to become closer security partners, we need to strengthen our cooperation across the full range of foreign and security challenges we face as a continent."

It came as London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Monday declared that Sir Keir Starmer should not rule out a return to the single market.

While the PM has previously ruled out the move, Mr Khan insisted it is “something we shouldn’t be scared to talk about”.

At the International Investment Summit in central London the arch-Remainer Mayor said: "We should be looking at a whole host of issues and talking about them – whether it’s a youth mobility scheme, whether it’s seeing what we can do to bring people closer together.

“I think the reality is, in the short term, we probably aren’t going to get back as members of the single market. But it’s something we shouldn’t be scared to talk about.”

Slapping down the remark, a Downing Street spokesperson said: "We’ve been very clear that we’ve left the EU and we’re not re-joining.

"We’re not going to re-join the single market customs union or we introduce freedom of movement."

Meanwhile, the PM told hundreds of entrepreneurs and CEOs that post-Brexit Britain became a "circus".

At the Investment Summit he pledged to make the UK a "stable, trusted, rule-abiding partner" and accused the Tories of making business "less sure of that" in the aftermath of the 2016 referendum.