Andy Burnham’s closer EU ties face fresh backlash over Brussels industrial rules

A new report with Stand for Our Sovereignty and The Campaign for an Independent Britain (CIBUK.Org) shone a light on the "sobering reality" impacting the economy.

Under the EU Commission’s freshly-minted Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), the new law is imposing stringent "Made in Europe" criteria for public procurement and green subsidies.

British officials are attempting to make sure UK factories are not locked out of EU supply chains, raising fears this could force Westminster to buckle to Brussels’s whim.

Facts4EU has warned that Labour could fall victim to a "core trap" in the form of what the EU could demand to enter into such economic chains.

To be considered for an exemption, the bloc is warning the UK must mimic EU tariffs on foreign goods, accept state-aid rules, and abide by strict tech regulations.

The report further warned the EU will not allow the UK to become a "backdoor" for foreign components into its exclusive single market.

They claimed Mr Healey’s upcoming meeting in Dublin will leave Westminster on a "dangerously narrow tightrope heading" ahead of the widely anticipated Budget.

By showing that it is willing to buckle to Brussels’s rulebook on AI, financial services, and other vital sectors, in exchange for tentative access to the Industrial Accelerator Act, the Chancellor will risk possible economic growth.

Lord Redwood, the former Secretary of State, told GB News he condemned the latest blow to Mr Burnham’s EU ties.

"Once again it takes Facts4EU to spell out the crucial significance of the EU’s latest protectionist move," he said.

He continued: "Excepting GB News, much of the mainstream media ignores it or presents it as something the UK needs to join. They fail to see it is a snare to less growth and more cost.

"’Made in Europe’ abuses the name of our shared continent as it seeks to build a Napoleonic-style fortress EU.

"These schemes impoverish their creators, cutting them off from new ideas, modern technology and from cheaper and better products from elsewhere.

"We left the EU in part to tear down the wide-ranging tariffs and non-tariff barriers on non-EU goods which are taxes making our consumers poorer."

He further warned that entering into EU supply chains would mean more expensive goods, as well as more costly raw materials and components for industry.

As a result, he warned, the move risked "making it less competitive internationally, and trade wars with the USA, China, India and other leading exporters".

"UK commentators concentrate on how not being inside fortress Europe makes it more difficult to sell to them," Lord Redwood said.

"They need to see being inside is even worse, adding to cost of living pressures. It is the policy of a Customs Union based on economic failure. It will drag down a floundering EU economy more quickly."