David Lammy has opened the door to rejoining the EU customs union amid calls from within No10 to reverse Brexit.
On Thursday, Mr Lammy refused to rule out rejoining the EU seven times during an interview, where he also claimed that Brexit had “badly damaged our economy”.
While the Deputy Prime Minister affirmed that a move to take Britain back into the customs union was not “currently” in Labour's agenda, he said that it was “self-evident” that other nations had “seen growth” by doing it.
Just a day prior, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the Government should reverse "the economic damage done by Brexit".
Mr Lammy refused to rule out rejoining the EU seven times during an interview
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Similar sentiments have also been echoed by Sir Keir Starmer's chief economic adviser and other senior figures within Downing Street.
Despite the Labour manifesto pledging not to return to the customs union or single market last year, the Prime Minister is facing growing pressure from MPs and his close circle of advisers to rethink the policy amid bleak growth forecasts.
Discussing whether he would like to see Britain in the customs union again, Mr Lammy told the News Agents podcast: “That is not currently our policy. That’s not currently where we are.
“But you can see countries like Turkey with a customs union seemingly benefiting and seeing growth in their economy, and again, that’s self-evident.”
Mr Lammy told the News Agents podcast that rejoining the customs union 'is not currently our policy'
|GETTY
The Deputy Prime Minister also suggested that he was not able to conflict Sir Keir's stance on Brexit, saying that his comments were "subject to collective responsibility”.
After the interview went live, senior Labour sources appeared to swipe at Mr Lammy's remarks.
Sources close to Mr Lammy said: "He is in the same position as the PM."
The Prime Minister's chief secretary, Darren Jones, also looked to have jabbed at Mr Lammy in the Commons, saying that Government policy would be announced in Parliament - and not "on podcasts".
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Sir Keir has openly called for Britain to establish closer ties with Brussels in recent weeks, telling the Lady Mayor's Banquet on Monday that it would “utterly reckless” to use Britain's withdrawal from the EU as "a template for our future foreign policy”.
He also threatened that Britain will have a “closer relationship” with the EU by the end of the parliamentary term.
The Prime Minister said that although rejoining the customs union was a “red line” that his Government would not cross, he claimed the British people had been “mis-sold” on “wild promises” surrounding Brexit.
Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel told The Telegraph that the Prime Minister would “take us into the EU by the back door”, adding that Mr Lammy “has never got over what happened in 2016”.
Sir Keir has openly called for Britain to establish closer ties with Brussels in recent weeks
| REUTERSShe said: “Rejoining the customs union or single market would be a total betrayal of the Brexit vote, sacrificing our ability to determine our own trade policy, handing over customs rules to Brussels bureaucrats and abandoning border control altogether.
“If Labour are really committed to staying out, Starmer must publicly confirm David Lammy is wrong, or voters will make their own conclusions.”
A spokesman for the Deputy Prime Minister said: “Our red lines are clear: there will be no return to the single market or the customs union.
"We are putting the national interest first, building a closer trading relationship with Europe that is good for jobs, bills, and borders.”
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