21 September 2023 , 17:00
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Britain has been “missing in action” on the world stage, the Shadow Foreign Secretary has warned.
Vowing to “reconnect” the UK with the international community, David Lammy revealed world leaders and overseas officials are now “very interested” in Labour, as polls suggest the party is heading for power. He also outlined plans for a “fundamental” overhaul of the Brexit trade deal, which is due for review in 2025.
Keir Starmer faces claims he is secretly plotting to take Britain back into the EU, which he strongly denies. But frontbenchers have increasingly spoken about closer links with the bloc, including over security, as revealed in yesterday’s Mirror.
Attacking the “rhetoric the Government has used about our European allies”, Mr Lammy said: “There would be a dramatic tonal shift if we win the next election and have the privilege of representing the British people.” He added: “We are absolutely clear that we do want to approach the 2025 review of our trading arrangements with the EU in a fundamental way. But we’ve also been clear we’re not going back into the single market, we’re not going back into the customs union.”
Mr Lammy spoke to the Mirror's Deputy Political Editor Ben Glaze in Washington, DCHe said Labour first wanted a formal structure for discussions with the EU on topics such as climate change and artificial intelligence. “We want to get back to that and then we want to build,” he said. The party would examine the Trade and Cooperation Agreement “sector by sector”, he said, adding: “I think we can make it better.”
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Denying being “naive” about the difficulty of negotiations, he insisted European leaders “recognise that the Labour Party hasn’t got the big divisions on Europe that the Conservatives have”. Mr Lammy became Shadow Foreign Secretary in April 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, leaving him grounded for months.
Labour’s dire 2019 election result meant the party potentially faced another decade of opposition. Speaking to the Mirror just yards from The Capitol in Washington after meetings with senior US administration officials, he chuckled: “It would be a mistake to say everyone was knocking down the door to meet Labour Party MPs - that was not the case. Now it’s very different. Really in the last year it has been clear to me that the international community are very interested in what we are saying, the business community are very interested in what we’re saying.
“People are taking our meetings and want to fully understand what a Labour Government would mean in terms of our relationships with the outside world.”
He was in Montreal last weekend meeting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and spoke to the Mirror the morning after flying from Paris following talks with French President Emmanuel Macron. Mr Lammy’s priority if he becomes Foreign Secretary would be “reconnecting with the international community”.
He said: “There are two central visions of our great country that dominate our modern history - there’s ‘Great Britain’, outward-looking, engaged with the world, the centre of the Commonwealth, special relationship with the United States and a very close working relationship with our allies in Europe, particularly. The other is ‘little England’.”
He blasted Rishi Sunak for snubbing this week’s United Nations General Assembly in New York. Minutes before Mr Lammy spoke, the PM used a Downing Street press conference to delay measures to tackle climate change.
“Britain was responsible for setting up the UN, that’s why we’ve got that (permanent Security Council) seat and we’ve got a PM in No10 today who should be in New York and instead is giving a speech rowing back on our climate commitments,” fumed Mr Lammy. “It’s extraordinary and it’s damaging our reputation across the world.”
The Tories were heavily criticised for abandoning a pledge to pump 0.7% of Britain’s gross national income into foreign aid. Ministers said it will be restored when the economy recovers. Labour is under pressure to guarantee an immediate return in its election manifesto. Insisting there “is a genuine, heartfelt commitment to get back to 0.7”, Mr Lammy said: “We can only do it when the economics of our country allow.”
He also signalled Foreign Office staff could be redeployed from some embassies to focus on Beijing. The number of British-based diplomatic staff in the China embassy and consulates plunged by a third, from between 110 and 119 to between 70 and 79 over seven years from 2015.
“I certainly think you can’t talk tough on China then bounce around as this Government has done, then on the other hand cut the number of diplomats you’ve got in China,” said Mr Lammy. “On day one we would have an audit of our relationship with China right across Whitehall. What we want is stability and certainty in our relationship with China that lasts for a generation, not just a couple of years.”
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Sipping a Coke in Washington’s 26C heat, jacketless Mr Lammy, who clocked up just over 10,000 air miles in five days - plus another 212 on the Eurostar - said: “There are moments where doing this role feels quite intense. It also feels like a huge, phenomenal privilege for a working class lad from Tottenham.”
Lammy quick fire quiz
Favourite foreign country: The country of my parents’ birth, Guyana in South America.
Favourite international cuisine: I holiday in the South of France every few years and I just love French food, I just love it. They do a wonderful duck in orange sauce.
Favourite place to holiday: The Caribbean islands are wonderful, I love the Caribbean.
Favourite world leader: I can’t pick a favourite but a very interesting world leader at the moment is Mia Mottley in Barbados. Barbados is a small country that can get washed away if we don’t fix the climate emergency. She’s raising big issues not just on her behalf but on behalf of many countries across the world on how we finance the transition (to net-zero). She’s turning out to be quite an exemplar on the international scene.
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