On Tuesday, Dr Al Pinkerton MP brought a Bill, the UK-EU Customs Union (Duty to Negotiate) Bill, to the House of Commons. The Bill is calling for the government to enter into negotiations on a Customs Union with the EU.   

With a remarkable 100 votes for the Bill and 100 votes against, it was a decisive vote (and a rare moment) from Deputy Speaker Caroline Nokes that took the Bill over the line. 

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey labelled this as an “historic victory”, but there is a great deal of work to do now. A date for the next reading has been provisionally booked in for January, but Bills brought by opposition MPs usually are not allocated further parliamentary time, so it will likely get stuck there. Plus, the votes against the Bill yesterday show us that there is still nervous resistance to mending our relationship with Europe. For the Bill to progress, it needs government support. 

"The prime minister must now listen to Parliament and the public, drop his self-imposed red lines and finally go for proper growth through an ambitious trade deal with the EU," Davey added. 

The Green Party of England and Wales stated their support for the Bill. 

Deputy PM David Lammy said recently that joining a customs union is "not currently our policy, that's not currently where we are,” but added that Turkey, “which is in a customs union with the bloc, was ‘seemingly benefiting and seeing growth in their economy’”. 

Since the budget, it feels like everyone is talking about the need for a serious conversation about rejoining the Single Market and Customs Union. Our movement will continue to do everything we can to keep up the pressure – generating key content on social media, mobilising local groups, speaking to MPs, bringing together the voices of business leaders, getting our message into the media, and more.