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Labour is hopeful that its plans to rebuild ties with Europe after Brexit will not be derailed by the far-right’s victory in the French parliamentary elections. I I understand.
The party is confident that hopes of a trade and refugee deal with Europe will not be dashed if Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) performs well in the first round of the vote on July 7.
Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s team has already been in contact with the RN, as well as regular contact with French President Emmanuel Macron and his government, which resulted in an invitation to attend last month’s D-Day commemorations.
Party leaders say Le Pen’s party has already begun to soften some of its extreme positions, as it did after populist Giorgia Meloni came to power in Italy, and could be a more reliable partner than appears on the surface as Labour seeks greater cooperation with France to address the problem of small boat crossings across the English Channel.
Labour is also optimistic: whatever the outcome of the parliamentary elections, Emmanuel Macron will remain French president and in charge of foreign and defence policy until 2027. This is key to Sir Keir Starmer’s main foreign policy objectives: securing a veterinary agreement and defence pact to facilitate food trade with Brussels.
The Labour leader, who is due to take up 10 Downing Street as prime minister this week, signalled his opposition to RN on Monday, telling reporters that “progressive answers are the only ones that will actually deliver real change to the challenges we face.”
But he also said he would “work with any government in Europe” and that as well as working across the EU, he was open to striking a bilateral deal with the French government to curb illegal immigration, given Le Pen’s preference for country-to-country deals.
“They are not mutually exclusive,” Starmer said.
“It is possible to do both, and we are already doing both with France.”
Starmer also said a Party-led government would not compromise his goal of strengthening Britain’s relationship with the EU.
Asked whether he worried that the euroskeptic French government could make it harder for him to achieve his goal of stronger economic ties with the EU, he said: “I really don’t want to get ahead of myself. First of all, there is still no final result in France. We are due to have a big result on Thursday too.”
“I don’t think it affects our overall intention to negotiate better terms with the EU. I think the terms we got are a failure. I think anyone who trades with the EU feels that they’ve failed. We can do better, not just on trade, but on research and development, on security.”
But Anand Menon, director of the think tank Britain in a Changing Europe, said the rise of far-right and eurosceptic parties on the continent could leave Starmer faced with a “dilemma” of being offered bilateral deals that ignored the EU in areas such as cross-border movement of students and workers.
Professor Menon said: I“Right-wing governments believe it is in their interest to weaken the EU, so they will approach him to make bilateral agreements on things like mobility.”
“And that presents Starmer with a very interesting contradiction: he gets some of what he wants from key member states, but weakens the EU in the process.”
Mike Buckley, director of the Independent Committee on UK-EU Relations, said: I Starmer may be worried about “the impact of an RN victory on refugee policy, the migration crisis and the EU’s decision-making capacity”, but he doubts Le Pen’s party will either fail to win a majority as rival parties form strategic voting blocs to steer it out of power, or it will move to the centre, as Meloni did in Italy.
“If you were in their position you would be worried about what an RN victory would mean for asylum policy, the migration crisis and the EU’s decision-making capacity,” he said.
“But I don’t think Labour is too worried because it’s highly unlikely the RN will get a majority, and they have other things on their minds this week.”
“Maybe the RN, now in power, will learn from Meloni and move to the centre.”
Meanwhile, Harriet Harman, a senior Labour leader, said Mr Starmer had a “huge responsibility” to deliver “decent jobs, a decent living standard, housing and health services” to stop the far-right making inroads in the UK.
She told Times Radio: “I think what Keir Starmer has to do is actually recognise that he’s not just got the economy in order, the health service in order, he’s got to rebuild trust in our democracy.”
“Above all, he must address the legitimate grievances being stoked and fuelled by the far right about access to decent jobs, a decent cost of living, housing and health care.”
“It’s become a breeding ground for far-right forces.”
Asked for his reaction to the Coalition’s strong showing, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said he was “focused on this election” and highlighted the Government’s work on tackling illegal immigration.
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