Market News

by  James Crisp

• Ursula von der Leyen President of the European Commission since 2019

forge closer ties with the bloc if elected.

>span class="link xray-cards-arrow xray-cards-arrow-next" aria-label="Show next cards" data-ylk="g:a1e1f89d-5964-3ae2-8dbc-cac6cdcb2827;itc:1;sec:pill;elm:pill-arrow;slk:next" data-rapid_p="14" data-v9y="0">Mrs von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said “we goofed it up” when asked on Tuesday whether Britain could ever reverse Brexit.

She was speaking amid much improved UK relations since the signing of Rishi Sunak’s new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland in February and after the shock victory of Geert Wilders, who wants the Netherlands to leave the EU, in Dutch elections last week.

“First of all, thank God, with the Windsor agreement, we had a new beginning for old friends. Very important,” Mrs von der Leyen said at a Brussels event hosted by the Politico website.

“And then I must say, I keep telling my children, you have to fix it. We goofed it up. You have to fix it. So I think here, too, the direction of travel, my personal opinion is clear.”

>span class="link xray-cards-arrow xray-cards-arrow-next" aria-label="Show next cards" data-ylk="g:a1e1f89d-5964-3ae2-8dbc-cac6cdcb2827;itc:1;sec:pill;elm:pill-arrow;slk:next" data-rapid_p="14" data-v9y="0">“No. It’s through our Brexit freedoms that we are, right now, considering how to further strengthen our migration system,” he said.

“It is through our Brexit freedoms we are ensuring patients in the UK can get access to medicines faster, that there is improved animal welfare. That is very much what we are focused on.”

A Labour spokesman said: “Of course we want a good working relationship with the European Union, we want to improve some of the issues that there are on subjects like trade, but no we’re not rejoining in any form.

“No, we’ve set out our position very clearly on that, we’re not rejoining the single market or the customs union. We’re not returning to freedom of movement.”

rejoin the EU, a lengthy and complex process that can take many years, any time soon.

>span class="link xray-cards-arrow xray-cards-arrow-next" aria-label="Show next cards" data-ylk="g:a1e1f89d-5964-3ae2-8dbc-cac6cdcb2827;itc:1;sec:pill;elm:pill-arrow;slk:next" data-rapid_p="14" data-v9y="0">But Sir Keir Starmer has promised a major rewrite of the post-Brexit trading relationship if Labour wins the next general election, expected to be held next year.

Labour insists Britain won’t be a “rule taker” if it negotiates a new deal. But the EU will demand the UK aligns with Brussels rules in return for an agreement on animal and plant health standards.

>span class="link xray-cards-arrow xray-cards-arrow-next" aria-label="Show next cards" data-ylk="g:a1e1f89d-5964-3ae2-8dbc-cac6cdcb2827;itc:1;sec:pill;elm:pill-arrow;slk:next" data-rapid_p="14" data-v9y="0">Mr Sunak moved to repair strained relations with the EU after he became Prime Minister in October last year. He calculated that a closer relationship was necessary for economic reasons during the cost of living crisis and for geopolitical reasons after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

of a trade war.

>span class="link xray-cards-arrow xray-cards-arrow-next" aria-label="Show next cards" data-ylk="g:a1e1f89d-5964-3ae2-8dbc-cac6cdcb2827;itc:1;sec:pill;elm:pill-arrow;slk:next" data-rapid_p="14" data-v9y="0">Since then, Brussels has approved UK post-Brexit participation of Horizon, its flagship research programme, and its Copernicus space programme.

Mr Sunak, a Brexiteer, is regarded with suspicion by some Tory backbenchers, who fear he will sacrifice sovereignty which was hard won in the tough Brexit negotiations.

His Windsor Framework deal did not convince the DUP to drop its boycott of Stormont, which has now lasted 21 months and delayed action on the economy and healthcare.

Negotiations between the DUP and the Government were now in their “final, final stages”, Chris Heaton-Harris, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, said on Tuesday night.

David Jones, a former Cabinet minister, said: “Mrs von der Leyen should understand that the British people are not children. They are grownups who decided to exercise their treaty right to leave the EU.

“She should also consider why so many member states are unhappy about the continued acquisition powers by Brussels at their expense.”

Mark Francois, the chairman of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs, said Mrs von der Leyen needed to “come to terms with Brexit”.