Boris Johnson inflicted a “botched” deal on the nation, says Starmer who promises to negotiate…

June 13, 2024, 7:05 p.m. | Updated: June 13, 2024, 7:41 p.m.

Boris Johnson “inflicted” a “botched deal” on the UK, Sir Keir Starmer has said, saying he would negotiate a better deal with the EU if voted into power.

The Labor leader spoke to LBC's Andrew Marr on Thursday and was asked about the impact of the “unwelcome specter” of Brexit on the UK economy.

Sir Keir responded by saying: “I think we could do better.”

He added that a veterinary agreement “would make trade much easier”.

“It would also reduce tensions related to the situation with Northern Ireland,” he said.

The Labor leader later said Boris Johnson and Liz Truss had caused “huge damage” to the UK’s fundamental relationships with its EU partners.

Keir Starmer speaks to Andrew Marr

Sir Keir also highlighted the priority given to growth in the party's new program launched on Thursday.

“That’s why what you saw today in our manifesto, as part of our growth plan, is a better deal with the EU,” he said.

“It's a critical part of our growth plan to facilitate trade, to ensure that we can do some of the research and development that we need and the education, but also, and it's crucial in the field of defense and security.”

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However, the Labor leader also said “not all roads lead to a relationship with the EU”.

“I think if you look at growth over the last 14 years, growth was stagnant in the years before Brexit and so I always thought it was a mistake to think that the only barrier to growth was relationship we have with the EU.

“If you look at the planning – look at every infrastructure project, whether it's roads, whether it's railways, any infrastructure, they take years, they get delayed, they go over budget – we We need to change our planning rules… not all roads lead to a relationship with the EU.

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Marr also questioned Sir Keir about the behavior of ministers while in government, following the revelation that Conservative candidate Craig Williams had bet on the election.

He asked him: “How many strikes before a Labor minister who has misbehaved?”

Sir Keir replied: “One hit and you’re out.”

“I know I will be judged by my actions, not my words.

“When I said I would root out antisemitism from the Labor Party from day one as leader, people said I liked your words, but I will judge you by your actions.

“The same goes for trust in politics. I want to make sure that politics is something that is put back in the service of the country. There has been far too much self-entitlement over the last 14 years.

“I intend to turn the situation around; I will say so but I will be judged on how I follow through on it.

“But if you look at my background, I followed through on anti-Semitism, I followed through on the cultural change that we needed in our party.”

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Marr also asked Sir Keir about a tough question he received last night during the debate on the battle for Number 10.

One audience member accused him of being a “political robot”, which left the Labor leader appearing stunned.

On Thursday he told Marr: “I think any fair person would say, whether they liked my answer last night or not, I was the opposite of the robot.

“I was walking around the stage talking to people. Again, actions, not words. People will judge me by what they saw.”

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