Overview
- Keir Starmer told MPs the UK will not seek to rejoin the EU customs union, single market or free movement, restating Labour’s Brexit red lines.
- Deputy prime minister David Lammy suggested a customs union could support growth while stressing it is not current policy, prompting a reminder that positions are set in Parliament.
- UK talks to join the EU’s SAFE arms-loans scheme collapsed over contribution demands, with a reported ask reduced to about £2 billion still rejected.
- Ministers are pursuing a spring package on food standards alignment, carbon pricing and electricity trading, alongside a youth mobility scheme, with analysts expecting only modest growth gains.
- EU diplomats point to limited bandwidth and ongoing cost disputes, and no date has been set for the next EU–UK summit to advance the reset.