Keir Starmer has abandoned the commitment to free movement of people in the European Union he made to Labour members during the party’s leadership contest. The deal, which was finalised on Christmas Eve, confirmed the end of free movement for Britons and EU nationals within each others’ countries because it kept the UK out of the single market, as the Tories promised in their 2019 election manifesto. We’ve arrived at a treaty and now we’ve got to make that treaty work,” he said. Free movement became an issue in the leadership campaign after the party conference backed the principle in autumn 2019. The commitment was linked to defending migrants’ rights generally, but it contradicted previous party comments saying free movement would end if the UK left the EU.

Source: The Guardian January 10, 2021 12:43 UTC