Labour is plotting to “drag Britain back to the EU” with leader Sir Keir Starmer’s “handpicked candidates” actively lobbying to derail Brexit and rejoin the bloc, Lee Anderson has claimed.
The Tory MP for Ashfield, who is deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, was commenting after an analysis suggested dozens of Labour candidates for the forthcoming general election have been endorsed by a pro-European faction.
He told the Mail: “Sir Keir Starmer’s handpicked candidates are actively campaigning to reverse Brexit.”
Mr Anderson, who is also a presenter on GB News, added: “We already know Labour won’t diverge from Brussels, so it’s no surprise they’re plotting to stuff Parliament with Remoaners and drag us back into the EU.”
Earlier this month Foreign Secretary David Lammy suggested improving the relationship with Brussels would be Sir Keir’s “number one priority”.
Sir Keir himself, who campaigned in favour of a second referendum in 2019, has carefully avoided any suggestion of rejoining, instead insisting he is committed to ”making Brexit work”.
Speaking during a visit to the London Stock Exchange in September, he said: “I have repeatedly said that there’s no case for going back into the EU and that includes the single market and the customs union.
“We will not be a rule-taker. The rules and laws of this country will be made in Parliament according to the national interest.
“But that does not mean that a Labour government wants to lower standards on food, wants to lower standards on people’s rights at work.”
Nevertheless, the website for the Labour Movement for Europe names a total of 49 candidates which it has already “formally endorsed”.
These include Exeter candidate Steve Race, a councillor in Hackney, who said last year: “’I campaigned to remain, I would like to see us rejoin in my lifetime.
“I will make the case within the Labour Party and continue to do so in the country.”
Meanwhile Bolton West candidate Phil Brickell was one of 30 signatories to an open letter sent to then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn which insisted: “Brexit can be stopped.”
Stella Creasy, chairwoman of the Labour Movement for Europe, insisted: ‘It is not about rejoining, it is about rebuilding relationships with our neighbours for mutual gain.’
The LME’s website states: “We are the home of the pro-Europeans in the Labour and trade union movement, campaigning with colleagues and comrades who share our convictions for just and fair societies and prospering economies across Europe.
“Our aim is to deepen the understanding of the European Union within the Labour Party and show that working in partnership with our neighbours is the best way to advance and secure outcomes that are consistent with our Labour values and purposes.”
Mr Anderson, a committed Brexiteer, launched a stinging attack on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recentluy after she suggested the “younger generation” could “fix” Brexit.
Speaking on GB News, he said: “The generation that fixed the problems in Europe was my grandad’s generation.
“He put a British Army uniform on… he went to fight the Nazis, he went all across North Africa, through Sicily, through Italy, seen some horrible things.
“That was the generation that fixed the problems in Europe. She needs to shut up.”
Asked about the prospect of Britain rejoining the EU, he added: “I hope not because if we do I’m moving to Orkney isles.”
