Britain’s Labor Party will try to negotiate a “better deal” for free trade between Britain and the European Union after Brexit if it comes to power at the next general election, its leader Keir Starmer said in an interview published in the Financial Times on Sunday. .

“Almost everyone agrees that the deal that (former Prime Minister Boris) Johnson made is not a good one. It’s too narrow,” said Keir Starmer, who voted to remain in the EU in 2016, adding that “as we get closer to 2025 we will try to get a much better deal for the UK”.

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which governs post-Brexit relations, especially economic ones, between Brussels and London came into force in 2021, with a provision for a review in 2025.

Its implementation did not go smoothly, and the exit from the EU is relevant and, according to economists, will continue to be a heavy burden for the British economy.

Many companies are suffering from new trade restrictions, difficulties in attracting European workers have exacerbated labor shortages, the mighty City faces increased competition from other European financial centers, while London struggles to strike bilateral trade deals with other countries.

“I think we can have a closer trading relationship” with the EU, said Keir Starmer, whose party is well in the polls against the 13-year-old Conservatives ahead of a general election at the start of the year. 2025.

Seven years after the 2016 referendum, 61% of Britons see Brexit as a failure, according to a YouGov poll this summer, in contrast to the Conservative government, which regularly touts the country’s new freedoms and the benefits of leaving the EU.

But Labour, often accused by the Tories of wanting to move closer to the EU, has already said it has no intention of abandoning Brexit. “We have to make everything work. The question is not about returning (to the EU). But I refuse to accept that we cannot make it work,” Keir Starmer reiterated, as quoted by Le Figaro and Rador Radio Romania.