The UK should forge much closer ties with Europe amid an increasingly “volatile and unpredictable” global economy, Britain’s biggest trade unions will argue as they push for new workers’ rights across the continent.
In its first major intervention on Europe in five years, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) will call for a “much-needed” closer relationship with the EU, in a joint statement with European counterparts.
Ahead of Keir Starmer’s reset talks with Brussels, the union umbrella body will say negotiations must cover new opportunities for quality jobs for UK workers in the EU and for EU workers in the UK, though it will stop short of calling for a return to freedom of movement.
Starmer has spent his first six months in power laying the groundwork for a better relationship with Brussels, with the UK hoping for better defence cooperation and smoother trade, and the EU seeking a mobility scheme allowing for greater travel by young people in return.
Cooperation between the UK and the rest of Europe has recently intensified after the return to power of Donald Trump in the US, with European leaders agreeing to higher military spending to counter the threat of Russia in a world where they will have to rely less on US backing.
After a meeting of EU leaders this week, Starmer spoke on Friday to António Costa, the president of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, along with the leaders of Canada, Turkey, Norway and Iceland about how to bolster the continent’s defences.
The prime minister has also been working closely with France’s Emmanuel Macron and others as they seek to persuade Trump not to turn his back entirely on Ukraine.
While Starmer has insisted the UK does not have to choose between closer ties with the EU and with the US, and he has no intention of reversing Brexit
, his government appears to be moving far closer to European neighbours than under the Conservatives.
The TUC was a key player in the remain campaign in the 2016 referendum, though some general secretaries and a large minority of union members were Eurosceptics.
In a joint statement, the TUC and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) will call on political leaders in London and Brussels to renegotiate the 2020 trade and cooperation agreement, describing it as “botched” under the Conservatives.
They will say any new deal should support opportunities for workers in Europe and the UK, reduce trade barriers and border checks and bring closer alignment of chemical and food standards.
The TUC has recently undertaken a number of polling and focus group exercises to understand developing views on Brexit among union members, led by Peter McLeod, a pollster who has worked for Labour.
In six focus groups with Conservative-Labour switchers and Labour voters interested in Reform, the majority said they were interested in renegotiating the Brexit deal.
McLeod said: “The dominant view among our recent focus groups is that Brexit has not been a success and that it would be sensible to try for a better deal. This applies both to those who voted remain and those who voted leave at the 2016 referendum. Some of the leave voters in our groups expressly said that their votes had been a mistake, while others said politicians had failed to deliver on the promises of the leave campaign.
“We showed messages both for and against doing a deal and they found the message in favour more persuasive. A strong majority across all groups, including groups considering voting Reform, endorsed doing a deal.”
The TUC general secretary, Paul Nowak, said: “It’s time for a commonsense trade deal that works for workers and business in the UK and EU. After years of muddling through, we need a new approach that honours the referendum result while giving us a much-needed closer trading relationship with EU.
“With an increasingly volatile and unpredictable global economy, it’s more important than ever that we secure our trading relationship with our closest neighbours.”
The campaign for closer ties with Europe will be discussed among British trade union leaders at a meeting next week.
Starmer has often spoken of his hopes for a reset of relations with the EU but has been cautious on an EU proposal for greater youth mobility, including easier travel, study and work opportunities for under-30s.
The prime minister’s own priorities are a new veterinary agreement, deeper cooperation on security and the mutual recognition of professional qualifications. Starmer has also said he wants “an ambitious UK-EU security partnership to bolster Nato”. France is likely to push for securing long-term fishing access in UK waters.
Starmer will host von der Leyen and Costa on 19 May to kick off more formal talks at the first UK-EU leaders’ summit. Nowak said it was vital that trade unions were involved in those talks from the beginning.
Though there is a major drive to improve the UK’s sluggish growth through removing trade barriers with Europe, senior figures in No 10 are wary of any measures that might be characterised as a return to free movement or to the EU single market and customs union.
Nowak said it was clear that a new deal must “honour the referendum result while giving us a much-needed closer trading relationship with the EU”.
