Robert Jenrick has promised to hold Sir Keir Starmer to account on EU alignment after admitting to changing his mind about Brexit.
Jenrick, who is being backed Brexit bigwigs such as Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and Mark Francois, this weekend revealed his time in Government opened his eyes to the opportunities afforded to the UK after leaving the Brussels bloc.
He is now keen to ensure the Prime Minister holds off from relinquishing Britain’s newfound powers, particularly when it comes to regulatory standards.
Speaking at an event in Essex on Sunday, Jenrick told Tory members: “I think I have changed my mind.
Jenrick set to take Brexit fight to Starmer after Tory leadership hopeful admits changing mind about EUPA/ROBERT JENRICK“Brexit has many opportunities for us as a country and I’ve seen that in many different jobs I’ve done.
“When I was a Treasury Minister I started free ports where we’ve created opportunities, including in Essex at Harwich, or when I was Immigration Minister [when] I saw that we now have for the first time in my lifetime the levers of migration in our hands as we don’t have freedom of movement.
“We used them very badly by creating a system that was worse than what we had in the EU but that doesn’t change the fundamental thing that we have the opportunity to do things as a sovereign country that we didn’t have previously.”
Jenrick added: “We’ve got to use our time now in opposition to hold Keir Starmer to account if he tries to increase our alignment with the EU.
“More importantly, we need to think of ways that we can take full advantage of those opportunities, to view Brexit as an unfinished revolution.
“And I am convinced that we can. I’ve set out how we can have a different immigration system where we make the UK the grammar school of the western world, where we can attract the best and the brightest using those powers to people who will make a real contribution to the country, not just low-wage, low-skilled migrants.”
Robert Jenrick
PA
Jenrick’s comments come after the ex-Immigration Minister was accused of “siding with Strasbourg” over his pro-EU stance in 2016.
The Newark MP had warned leaving the EU would “destroy” the competitive advantage given to small businesses and claimed Brexit would result in job losses.
Jenrick’s comments were pounced upon by his critics, with a pro-Brexit Tory source telling GB News: “I want to trust that he’s now someone who cares about immigration numbers and will fight the European Courts on deportation, but his history shows he’s always sided with Strasbourg.”
A Reform UK insider added: “Robert Jenrick wants us to believe he has had a Damascus-like conversion but his recent record paints a very different picture.”
Kemi Badenoch, who goes into the head-to-head members’ vote with the most support from Tory MPs, backed Brexit in 2016.
The former Business Secretary was tasked with overseeing much of the UK’s post-Brexit trade policy but sparked outrage after watering down plans to repeal EU laws on the statute books.
Keir Starmer
Keir StarmerPA
Despite disagreeing on whether the UK should definitely leave the European Convention on Human Rights, Badenoch and Jenrick have warned about Starmer’s plans to reverse elements of Brexit.
The Prime Minister, who pledged not to return the UK to either the Single Market or Customs Union, is already eyeing up closer cooperation with Brussels.
Eurosceptics warn Starmer could look to introduce a youth mobility scheme between the UK and 27 EU member states.
However, the Prime Minister has rejected any suggestion of a mobility arrangement with Brussels.
Starmer, who campaigned for a second referendum on EU membership, is instead keen to stress a “reset” in Anglo-European relations does not mean reversing Brexit.
Speaking in Berlin in August, Starmer said: “That does not mean reversing Brexit or re-entering the Single Market or Customs Union.
Robert Jenrick campaigning for the UK to stay in the EU in 2016
ROBERT JENRICK
“But it does mean a closer relationship on a number of fronts, including the economy, including defence, including exchanges.”
Concern about Starmer seeking closer alignment with the Brussels bloc returned last autumn after the then-Leader of the Opposition revealed Labour did not want to diverge from the EU.
He said: “Actually, we don’t want to diverge, we don’t want to lower standards, we don’t want to rip up environmental standards, standards for people that work, food standards and all the rest of it.”
Jenrick is determined to ensure Starmer only serves one term in No10.
He told members: “I’m not prepared to put this country through a generation of Labour rule. Let’s get on and consign Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner, David Lammy, Ed Miliband, to a one-term Labour Government.”