A Labour government under Sir Keir Starmer would look to “slowly re-align” the UK with European Union regulations, according to Popular Conservatives director Mark Littlewood.

He was commenting on former Prime Minister Tony Blair saying that Labour “must” re-set the UK’s relations with the EU.

Littlewood told Martin Daubney on GB News: “I’m not so worried that Tony Blair will be the Prime Minister and Kier Starmer, if Labour were to win, in name only.

“Tony Blair is clearly a huge figure in the Labour Party and what he says is listened to by the leader of the Labour Party, but I’ve got really bad news for you and for your viewers and for anyone who voted for Brexit.

“And that’s that this argument is never going to go away. It would be nice to think that we’d clarified it, closed it down, that’s it.

“I know it took five years and endless wrangling but in fairness, the question of what should our relationship be with countries on the continent and the EU is always going to be a topic of debate.

“But here’s my worry, that what the Labour Party will do is slowly re-align us with EU regulations and they will argue that that will facilitate trade with the EU.”

He added: “And on that narrow point, they might be right but it proves to be a huge barrier to actually negotiating trade deals with the rest of the world, because you’re sat down saying we’ve already signed up to all of this with the EU, we can’t negotiate with you about financial services, standards, pharmaceutical standards, because we’ve bought the whole EU rulebook hook line and sinker.

“What I’d like to see this Government do before the election is to tie down some more trade deals…and if you start wedding yourselves into those deals, then it actually becomes harder for a future government to re-embed us in the EU’s regulatory orbit.

“So, my plea to Kemi Badenoch is to get on with it and fast.”