The leader of the Trades Union Congress has called for “the closest possible economic and political relationship with the European Union”.
The UK’s most senior trade unionist, Paul Nowak, told the BBC that he believed this would be “essential” to boost economic growth and warned that faith in mainstream politics could “drain away” unless living standards improved.
Nowak urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer not to rule out a customs union with the EU, which he argued would lower barriers to trade with the UK’s biggest market.
Starmer has said he wants to “reset” relations with Brussels but has ruled out rejoining the EU’s single market and customs union.
The prime minister fears that recent deals with the US and India would be scrapped if the UK rejoined.
Labour’s manifesto ruled out signing up to the existing EU custom union.
Recently, senior cabinet ministers such as Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy have danced along the edges of those red lines, bemoaning what they see as the economic damage of Brexit and extolling the virtues of closer relations.
Earlier this month, 13 Labour MPs backed a Liberal Democrat bill requiring the government to begin negotiations on joining a bespoke customs union with the EU.
The Conservatives and Reform UK oppose rejoining a customs union, and say it would undermine what they see as the benefits of Brexit.
A customs union would eliminate tariffs or taxes on goods between the UK and the EU, reducing bureaucracy.
But critics point out that it would also severely curtail the UK’s ability to strike bespoke global trade deals, as the EU would place a common tariff on all goods from outside the customs union area and would expect the UK to conform to common standards.
Nowak said, “2026 really needs to be the year when the government gets to grips with the cost of living crisis.”
He said that “one of the reasons we are seeing prices so high in our supermarkets is because of that bad Brexit deal”, adding: “Absolutely the government should rule nothing out. They should look at every option for our relationship with the European Union up to and including a customs union.
“I go round workplaces week in, week out – aerospace, automative, steel – and having a good deal with Europe is essential.”
Nowak, who became general secretary of the TUC in 2023, also said the government must act on a wide range of fronts to make people feel better off, or risk paying a political price.
He pointed to research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation that suggested that voters who felt financially insecure were abandoning Labour at a greater rate than those who felt more secure.
The TUC itself commissioned polling suggesting one in five people were skipping some meals, and one in three expected their financial situation to worsen.
Nowak praised action the government had already announced to help some families, such as lifting the two-child benefit cap, but said the government should do more.
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