London (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said that PM Keir Starmer will aim to improve customs agreements with the European Union without returning to a full union with the EU.
As Keir Starmer heads to Brussels as part of his endeavoured reset with the European Union, Yvette Cooper stated it was still a red line that the UK would not be part of a customs union or single market.
Cooper said:
We want stronger trading relationships all over the world.
It’s why we’ve been working on resetting the relationship with our European neighbours so that we can improve the trade, so that we can improve law enforcement cooperation. We’re doing the same, for example, in tackling the dangerous small boat crossings.
We need that stronger cooperation with France, with Germany, so, of course, we need to strengthen that cooperation and also look for stronger trading relationships with the US and other countries.
She further said the administration wanted to “get rid of some of the bureaucracy” across borders. Cooper rejected joining the customs union as a “red line” but left the door open to the potential of another type of customs deal.
When did the UK leave the union?
This topic has gained renewed interest among the general public, especially from recent calls for a customs union between the UK and the EU by some UK political leaders.
The UK officially left the EU’s customs union on 1 January 2021 during its exit process from the EU. This made the UK negotiate its own trade agreements on its own, but it brought customs checks and procedures for trading with the rest of the EU, which means increased costs and complexities for businesses.
The TCA, effective from May 1, 2021, established zero tariffs and zero quotas on trade between the UK and the EU for goods that meet specific rules of origin. However, it did not retain membership in the customs union. This implies that customs procedures bind trade between the two firms.
