Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy repeatedly refused to rule out Labour support for the EU setting binding new rules for the UK for years to come this morning; going even further when pressed and arguing that after Brexit the EU should be able to set workplace regulations and even pay rates in the UK – a power they don’t have currently. The BBC surprisingly asked Nandy if it was not reasonable for Boris to say he cannot sign up to a deal that does not deliver the UK control over its own regulations. Her response let the mask slip…

“No, because the sticking point that has emerged overnight in the negotiations, is about whether we keep pace with the EU on workers’ rights and environmental standards.

Now don’t forget, this is a government that a few months ago was out on their doorsteps clapping for carers, and is now arguing that it is intolerable that if the EU decides that they want to up the pay, the conditions, the working standards of those precise people who have kept this country going during a pandemic, then we shouldn’t be beholden to that.”

The cat is out of the bag. The Labour Party is admitting it wants the EU to control pay, working conditions, and standards in the UK even after we have left. That’s not independence, that’s subjugation. Under a Labour deal, the UK would be forced to implement any number of new whacky, anti-competitive regulations the EU dreams up. And Lisa Nandy is supposed to be the straight-talking, red wall, Brexit-sympathetic member of Sir Keir’s Shadow Cabinet…