MOSCOW (Sputnik) — UK Labour Party would seek a transitional deal on Brexit that would allow the country to remain in a customs union with the European Union and the single market, Keir Starmer, the party's Shadow Secretary of State for Brexit, said in an op-ed in The Guardian newspaper.
"Labour would seek a transitional deal that maintains the same basic terms that we currently enjoy with the EU. That means we would seek to remain in a customs union with the EU and within the single market during this period," Starmer said in an article published on Saturday.
Starmer criticized Prime Minister Theresa May's "ideological obsession with leaving the customs union and the single market during a transitional period" and said that the proposals outlined in the recent paper on customs showed that the current government was willing to take enormous risks.
"Labour will not take those risks. We will always put jobs and the economy first," the Shadow Brexit Secretary wrote.
The UK government's custom proposals, issued on August 15, suggested that the country would leave the customs union, but it should seek a new customs partnership with the European Union, with the United Kingdom "mirroring" some of the bloc's approaches and requirements, which would allow to avoid a customs border.
The United Kingdom and the European Union have to finish the negotiations, which officially began in June, by March 29, 2019.
