UK Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey is set to call on the Labour Party to abandon its opposition to rejoining the EU single market, accusing the government of "torpor and timidity" in its approach to Europe. In a major speech timed ahead of the tenth anniversary of the 2016 Brexit referendum, Davey will argue that the UK should seek membership of the European Economic Area (the EU's single market, which also includes Norway and Iceland) and form a new customs union with the bloc, moves he says would remove trade barriers and reverse years of economic damage he estimates at £90bn a year. The speech puts the Lib Dems on a collision course with both the ruling Labour Party — which pledged in 2024 not to rejoin the EU, the single market, or the customs union — and right-wing parties opposed to the free movement of people that single market membership would require.