UK Labour seeks 'full access' to EU single market after Brexit

LONDON: Britain's opposition Labour party tabled an amendment to a key piece of legislation Tuesday demanding the government maintain "full access" to the EU's single market after Brexit.

MPs will debate the amendment for the first time on June 12, when the House of Commons votes on a string of proposed changes to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, which sets the legal framework for Brexit.

Labour has previously stated its desire for a "new relationship" with the single market, which Britain will be required to leave when it withdraws from the European Union.

Like Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative government, Labour has rejected joining the European Economic Area (EEA), which offers non-EU countries the benefits of the single market without having a say in its rules.

Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said Labour instead wants a bespoke, "more ambitious agreement, which serves our economic interests" and avoids new checks on the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

The new amendment calls on the government to seek "full access to the internal market of the European Union, underpinned by shared institutions and regulations".

This access should include "no new impediments to trade and common rights, standards and protections as a minimum".

The move was widely viewed an attempt to see off a rebellion by pro-European Labour MPs next week over an amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill demanding Britain stay in the EEA.

But one rebel, Chuka Umunna, said: "The only way of realising the objectives set out in the amendment, short of EU membership, is through the UK being part of the European Economic Area -- as a minimum."

The EEA amendment was one of 15 tabled to the bill in defiance of the government by the unelected House of Lords.

MPs will be asked to approve or reject them all over the course of a single day next Tuesday, in what promises to be a dramatic moment in the Brexit process.

Labour will formally abstain on the EEA amendment but will vote in favour of the other 14 changes in a bid to defeat the government.

Britain is leaving the EU on March 29, 2019, but a transition period will effectively maintain its membership until the end of 2020.

However, May's government has yet to decide exactly how it envisages the future trading relationship with the bloc.