Senior business leaders back Keir Starmer’s call not to ‘diverge’ from EU

Trade bodies join political figures in backing ‘policy of alignment with standards and regulations’ with bloc

Senior business leaders and trade bodies have backed Keir Starmer’s comments that Britain should not part from the European Union on standards ranging from the environment to employment.

The Labour leader has come under fire from the Conservatives, who accused him of wanting to “unpick” Brexit after saying that “most of the conflict” since 2016 had arisen because the UK “wants to diverge and do different things to the rest of our EU partners”.