Must watch interview. Ed Davey calls for a customs union with the EU to grow the UK economy And Laura Kuenssberg ends up making the case for why the UK should be in a customs union with the EU, without realising it 🤷‍♂️ LK, "Why should we have a long negotiation to go into a customs union?" ED, "People are worried about the cost of living.. And economic growth to fund e.g. the NHS" "If we have a UK-EU customs union we can grow faster than anything Rachel Reeves and Labour are saying at the moment" LK, "Who has the appetite for a long negotiation" ED, "It could be done quickly.. There would be negotiation but it wouldn't be like what we saw before.. And the benefits would come quickly" "A Youth mobility scheme.. To travel work and live across Europe, that would be good for our economy" LK, "EU proposal has no limits" ED, "We should go for a capped scheme.. Korea, Japan, Australia, they're capped schemes.. Two or three year visas" LK, "Conservative leaders found the EU wasn't open limits of migration" ED, "Conservatives leaders sold Britain out" LK, "There might be benefits to a customs union but the UK would have to follow rules of EU countries.. We would be a rule taker not a rule maker" ED, "We're already a rule taker.. Bottles with tops that have to be recycled.. That was an EU regulation, we have no voice whatsoever.. But UK based manufacturers are applying that regulation" LK, "They're choosing to so they can sell into the Eurozone" ED, "You make my point for me, they take those rules for they can market, export and grow - presumably we want to do that don't we?" LK, "European growth.. UK growth is 1%.. EU average is 1%.. Your suggestion that if we work with those countries we'd grow more, that doesn't stack up does it?" ED, "It shows Europe would be keen for a UK-EU customs union" LK, "In some countries their growth is worse than ours, in others its the same" ED, "With respect, you've shown some countries where it's worse than ours but you haven't shown EU countries where growth is better than ours" "My argument is trade deals are mutually beneficial" "Even if economies aren't growing at the moment, there's more reason we should have a trade deal" "You're playing into my own argument that a UK-EU customs union would help us, and it would be relatively easy to get" LK, "Where is your evidence the EU would want this?" ED, "My challenge to Keir Starmer is to open negotiations.. Latest by 2030 we have a full UK-EU customs union" LK, "Is this the first step for the LibDems getting us back into the EU?" ED, "Yes, we are pro European, we should be back at the heart of Europe"

Ed Davey, "The Liberal Democrats are going to lead the debate in Britain to have a closer relationship with the EU" "It's great for our trade, our economy, our defence, our security" "And a customs union would be great for growth, far better than anything the Labour government has announced" "We need to get rid of the trade barriers the Conservatives put up, that have so hit our small to medium sized exporters" "That's the way to grow our economy by having that closer relationship with Europe"