Peter Mandelson has hit out at what he said was a “fetish” for scrapping EU rules that work in Britain’s favour but warned that the UK will not rejoin the bloc “for the foreseeable future”.
Speaking at the Atlantic Council in Washington, the UK’s ambassador to the US defended Sir Keir Starmer’s “reset” deal with the EU, saying the previous deal Britain had struck with the bloc was “pretty miserable”.
He denied that closer alignment with the EU would begin the process of Britain rejoining it.
“Why make a fetish of dis-alignment when we know that it’s in the interests of our business and traders to pursue and to follow those rules and standards”, he said.
The previous Conservative government had promised to scrap up to 4,000 EU laws as part of a post-Brexit bonfire of regulations, but watered down the plans almost entirely as a result of the massive administrative burden.
Lord Mandelson also argued that Britain’s job on the world stage is to “be of huge usefulness, both to the United States and the European Union”.
He added: “We’re not in the European Union anymore, and we’re not going to go back for the foreseeable future, certainly. But we are European, a European country.
“We left the European Union with a pretty miserable deal, frankly, unfair to us, not particularly favourable in the long term to the EU.”
Sir Keir – who has made the Brexit reset a centrepiece of his administration – said last week’s summit marks a “new era” of relations with the bloc, adding that it is about “moving on from stale old debates” and “looking forward, not backwards”.
Lord Mandelson also used his Atlantic Council address to argue that the transatlantic alliance needs a “boot up the backside”, saying that Britain must work closely with the US to take on Chinese technological dominance.
He argued Beijing represents a “far more dynamic and formidable strategic rival than the Soviet Union ever was”, urging Britain and the US to combine forces to “drive the scientific breakthroughs that will define this century”.
“Rather than stifling these transformative technologies through excessive regulation, our two governments must unleash their immense potential for human benefit and Western advantage”, he said.
While Donald Trump almost blocked Lord Mandelson’s ambassadorship because of concerns about his links to China, the Labour peer now appears to have turned against Beijing, saying there is “there is nothing in this world I fear more than China winning the race for technological dominance”.
The ambassador warned that there is now a “new dynamic between China and the West”, saying Britain and the US “must not be afraid … to take on aspects of China’s behaviour and policies”.
He also urged European countries to step up their defence spending and stop “living in a fantasy created by the US security guarantee”, accusing the continent of having spent decades relying on America to defend it in the face of global threats.
Lord Mandelson said: “If we are serious about rebuilding confidence in the international system … we need to devote an enormous amount of energy and goodwill to preserve, sustain and deepen the alliances which exist between like-minded countries for the UK and the rest of Europe.
“We must reboot the transatlantic alliance. Indeed, a boot up the proverbial backside is needed now to deliver peace through strength across three interconnected domains – military, economic and technological.”
Lord Mandelson added: “We have lived in a fantasy created by the US security guarantee, complacent that a friendly heavyweight across the water would be always there when the going gets tough.”
