Labour will not make controlling immigration the overarching priority as the UK leaves the EU but freedom of movement will have to end, the shadow Brexit secretary has said.
Revealing his party’s Brexit strategy, Keir Starmer said Theresa May’s approach to leaving the EU was “rigid and reckless”, putting the economy at risk.
Labour would seek to end free movement but not shut the door on the single market, the customs union or participation in EU agencies, Starmer added.
“We recognise that immigration rules will have to change as we exit the EU, but we do not believe that immigration should be the overarching priority,” he said.
“We do not believe that leaving the EU means severing our ties with Europe. We do not believe that Brexit means weakening workers’ rights and environmental protections or slashing corporate tax rates.”
He said the shadow cabinet had “agreed that reasonable management of migration and moving away from freedom of movement has to be part of the referendum result”, even though the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, had previously strongly defended free movement of citizens within the EU.
Starmer sought to stress that there were key dividing lines between Labour’s approach to Brexit and that of the Conservatives, the day after Peter Mandelson, the pro-EU former cabinet minister, criticised a lack of clarity.
He said Labour would guarantee the rights of EU nationals to stay in the UK “on day one”, adding that he was sure this would lead other countries to make similar guarantees for UK citizens in the rest of the EU.
Starmer also said Labour was clear that “no deal with the EU is the worst possible” outcome of talks, while May has said the UK has to be prepared to walk away if the terms are not good.
He explained that he would seek a parliamentary vote on the EU deal by autumn 2018 and then go back to the negotiating table if MPs rejected what was on offer.
The shadow Brexit secretary has not explicitly ruled out a second referendum but a spokesman said it was not party policy and would not be promised in the manifesto.
Asked what would happen if the EU said it would not reopen negotiations on a deal rejected by parliament, Starmer said: “We have to cross each bridge when we get to it.”
At the heart of Labour’s proposals on Brexit for its manifesto, the party has said it would scrap the Brexit white paper and replace it with new negotiating priorities with the emphasis on keeping the benefits of the single market and customs union.
Labour would also replace the government’s great repeal bill with legislation focused on EU rights and protections.
The new policy appears to be an attempt to win over remain supporters who may have been put off Labour by its support for May in triggering article 50. However, Starmer said he was still clear that the result from last June had to be respected and the party could not “look like we are trying to rub out the result of the referendum”.
“I wanted us to remain, but I accept the referendum was a referendum that was for real … I’m not prepared now for the Labour party not to genuinely accept the result. We asked for a decision and we got it. It was close and that has to be reflected in negotiations,” he said.
A date of 15 May has been pencilled in for the party’s manifesto launch and sources have told the Guardian that the document, which will be drafted by Corbyn’s key adviser, Andrew Fisher, will follow consultations with MPs, councillors and unions. An email has been sent out to garner the views of members.
Fisher, who was previously a Public and Commercial Services union official, will pull together the ideas that will be agreed by the party’s executive and shadow cabinet at a critical “Clause V” meeting on 11 May.
The Conservatives criticised Starmer’s proposals. Dominic Raab, a Tory MP and member of the exiting the European Union select committee, said: “Only Theresa May and the Conservatives can provide the strong and stable leadership the United Kingdom needs to see us through Brexit and beyond.
“But there is a real risk of Jeremy Corbyn – with the support of the SNP and Lib Dems – becoming prime minister and being in charge of the Brexit negotiations. He is a weak leader of a divided party who couldn’t get the right deal for the United Kingdom.
“We have a clear plan for the Brexit negotiations, and every vote for Theresa May will strengthen her hand in those negotiations to get a good deal for the UK.”
Meanwhile, shadow cabinet members are being asked to take part in three national events a week during the campaign. Any absences must be agreed with Corbyn’s political secretary, Katy Clark, and the Guardian understands that the shadow cabinet minister, Jon Trickett, will be part of an attack team in central office.
Labour’s campaign has already been hit by controversy over the issue of Trident after Corbyn appeared to suggest the party would not renew the nuclear deterrent and used a Sunday interview to say he would order an immediate strategic defence review looking at “all aspects” of defence policy if he was prime minister.
However, Labour’s campaign chairman, Andrew Gwynne, said renewal of Trident would be in the party’s manifesto. “Yes, it’s Labour party policy. We are committed to renewing the Trident system,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Nia Griffith, the shadow defence secretary, played down the significance of Corbyn’s personal views, saying Labour as a party was prepared to use nuclear weapons. In an interview on BBC2’s Daily Politics, she said: “We are a team, we are a party, we are working as a party. And this is not a presidential election. This is an election about who is in government and this is an election between political parties.”
Asked how Trident could be a deterrent if Corbyn has said he would not use nuclear weapons, she said: “I think it is very important that we are absolutely clear that we are prepared to use it and I’m certainly prepared to use it.”
A shadow cabinet member told the Guardian that while the Labour leader would have to toe the party’s agreed line on defence, he would have control over other policy areas. “Be in no doubt, he is going to get his own way on policies,” they said.
The involvement of Fisher in drafting the manifesto drew criticism from the Conservative party. It claimed he had previously called for the police to be disarmed, MI5 disbanded and defence spending to be slashed. The party, which is trying to portray Corbyn as weak on national security, also claimed Fisher wanted Trident to be scrapped and was opposed to drone strikes being used to kill terrorists.
The Tory MP James Cleverly said: “All you need to know about the man writing Labour’s manifesto is that he wants to make our country less safe. This is a prime example of the sort of chaos that you’d get if Jeremy Corbyn was in Downing Street.”
The Tories are also likely to use the fact that the Communist party will be backing Labour in trying to steer voters away from Corbyn.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, will criticise Corbyn at an event in Portsmouth on Tuesday.
“Our nuclear deterrent keeps us at the top table in this post-Brexit world. All this means that Jeremy Corbyn is unfit to be prime minister; he is a rare combination of being both weak and dangerous,” Farron plans to say. “If you say that you would never press the button, as Jeremy Corbyn seems to have suggested, that makes a mockery of having a deterrent or indeed sound defences.”
However, Farron says his party will end the current continuous-at-sea deterrent and use new measures such as gaps in patrols and irregular patrolling patterns. “Our long-term goal will always be a nuclear-free world and we must use the UK’s position to lead international efforts towards multilateral disarmament,” he will say.