Lib Dems Call on Labour to Vote for UK Access to EU Single Market After Brexit

UK Liberal Democrats has urged Labour to vote in parliament for the United Kingdom to stay in the EU single market to prove that they intend to pursue a softer Brexit.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Saturday, Labour Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer announced that his party would shift the policy on the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union and back a transitional deal where the country would remain part of the single market and the customs union.

"Labour needs to make up its mind whether it is with the Conservatives, seeking to take us out of the single market and customs union, or with the Liberal Democrats who want to protect jobs by remaining inside. If they want the single market, they should vote for it," Tom Brake, a member of Liberal Democrats, said in a statement on Sunday.

Brake added that Labour party had to back an amendment to the EU withdrawal bill, which the Liberal Democrats intend to table after the parliament comes back from the recess, to "force a vote on whether Britain should leave the European Economic Area and therefore the single market."

Brake also said that Liberal Democrats would try to change the bill so that the United Kingdom could remain part of the customs union.

The departure talks between the European Union and the United Kingdom have to be concluded by March 29, 2019.