Exclusive: Pat McFadden Slams Brexiteers Who Say Labour Plans To 'Betray' Leave Vote
A senior cabinet minister has hit out at Brexiteers who claim Labour is planning to “betray” the result of the 2016 EU referendum.
Keir Starmer has said he wants to “reset” the UK’s relationship with Brussels to improve economic ties with the bloc.
The EU is expected to demand that the UK accepts European Court of Justice rulings, as well as open up access to British fishing waters, as the price of a deal.
That has angered Leave supporters, including Tory peer Lord Frost, who negotiated Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal.
“Anyone who thinks the solution to this country’s problems is giving foreign courts more powers over us is truly deluded,” he told The Sun.
But speaking to HuffPost UK, Pat McFadden, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, accused the government’s critics of working against Britain’s “national interest”.
He said: “It’s not a choice between re-running the Brexit argument and perpetually giving two fingers to the European Union.
“If there’s talks about any changes, the only thing we’ll be thinking about is what is in the British national interest. Just seeing it as between Britain and the EU is too small a context.
“You’ve got a new American administration about to take office, you have a big debate about the relationship with China and you’ve got the European Union. To really understand Britain’s place in the world, you have to see it in relation to all three of those things.”
With Donald Trump set to re-enter the White House next month, McFadden also rejected calls from those on both sides of the Brexit debate for the UK to choose between closer ties to America or the EU.
McFadden said: “Our relationship with the United States is going to be absolutely critical in the coming years. For example, when it comes to security we will always be with the US.
“But when it comes to trade we are an open, trading economy that has to have relationships with the US, with the European Union and with China. This thing that you’ve got to choose is wrong.
“Britain has succeeded in the past precisely by not choosing, by making sure it’s got a good relationship with the US and a good relationship with Europe.
“Can we do things to make life easier for industry? Let’s see. But whatever we do, it will be in the UK’s national interests. And I think that to try and shut that down before we begin and say ‘you’ve got the close the door to Europe and only think about America’ is to limit Britain’s options in a way that isn’t in our national interest.”