Labour has set out a major plank of its pre-election foreign and security policy which is worthy of close scrutiny – even though some of it is simply old news.

The headlines are Sir Keir Starmer’s plan for migration – treating people-smugglers like terrorists in as far as this is practical – but the most eye-catching part is his willingness to nudge the UK closer to the EU’s orbit, and be upfront about unpopular trade-offs this will trigger.

This matters.

Politics Hub: Sunak makes claim about migration plans as war of words continues

Until now, as leader Sir Keir has adopted a somewhat cool tone towards the EU, to the frustration of some in his party and continuing to reject rejoining the single market and customs union.

Focusing on the shortcomings of Boris Johnson’s deal rather than big picture principles, this approach peaked in December 2022 when the Labour leader said rejoining the EU’s single market would not boost growth. Any other strategy could cost him amongst Brexit voters in the Red Wall was the belief.

Today marks the first interesting departure.

PMQs: Keir Starmer brands Rishi Sunak ‘Inaction Man’ as he attacks PM on prisons and schools

Angela Rayner’s seven point plan for workers’ rights sets Labour up for key battle with Tories – if the party’s got the stomach for it

Labour ‘totally rejects’ criticism from union leader that it is ‘1990s tribute act’

As part of the package to tackle migration, Sir Keir has said he wants a returns agreement with the EU to help tackle migration.

This is no surprise – the returns policy itself is actually nearly a year old and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has been talking about the need for an EU returns agreement for much of this year.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

What is new is Sir Keir’s explicit commitment to look at migrant quotas in exchange for such a deal.

Asked by The Times if he would be willing to accept the “quid pro quo” of migrant quotas in exchange for a deal, he said: “That would be part of any discussions and negotiations with Europe.”

This is a row the Labour leader is now happy to have.

One Labour source said there was a willingness to be braver about discussions involving the EU: “What’s different now is that we are happy to have a talk about what’s practical.

“This is not a discussion about going back to the single market and customs union.

“But we don’t have a good security deal and that’s mad both for the UK and the EU.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

There has been a discussion for some weeks amongst certain Labour figures about how Sir Keir’s approach to the EU should evolve.

Not least because the polls shift against Brexit – YouGov suggests that Labour are now finally trusted as much as the Tories to handle Brexit, and 61% of people said in July that Brexit was a failure. This appears to be the first step by Sir Keir in a journey.

The issue is not straightforward for the Tories either.

They have used today’s words by Sir Keir to claim any “quota” deal could mean up to 120,000 migrants a year arriving, making the UK a “dumping ground” for the EU.

Yet Rishi Sunak’s government has also long been openly and explicitly seeking a returns agreement with the EU.

Sky News Monday to Thursday at 7pm. Watch live on Sky channel 501, Freeview 233, Virgin 602, the Sky News website and app or YouTube.

Today Number 10 is emphatic that they would never and have never been open to accepting a quota of EU migrants as part of a returns deal, with others in government pointing out that Rwanda would make that unnecessary.

Yet unhelpfully for Mr Sunak, this red line was not made explicit even a month ago when Number 10 was briefing they wanted a deal with the EU.

Be the first to get Breaking News

Install the Sky News app for free

This inconvenience will do little to dampen the attacks on Sir Keir, however, with Tories adamant he has made a big strategic blunder today.

This is a fight both sides appear to want to have.

Can the Tories use this moment to convince voters Sir Keir is an EU fanatic who wants to open the migration floodgates?

Or does the Labour leader emerge as the grown-up willing to talk about potentially unpalatable trade-offs?

It’s unclear quite where this ends with voters.

Related posts:

FA Cup final will be used to test return of larger crowds to major events Hancock’s role helping African economies recover from COVID not going ahead, Sky News understands Terror suspect held over murder of MP Sir David Amess is named Ali Harbi Ali, Sky News understands ‘We need to be more careful’ when it comes to transgender conversion therapy, Javid says Patel accuses Labour MPs of defending ‘murderers, paedophiles, rapists, thugs’ UK will have ‘no choice but to act’ if EU does not show ‘flexibility’ over NI protocol – Truss New prime minister and chancellor forced to defend controversial tax cuts Labour pledge to ‘build British industry’ through state-owned investment fund Transparency in politics often feels like it falls short – we want to shine a light on that Local election results in charts – Labour performing well but is it enough to win a general election? Boris Johnson warned he could lose public legal funding for COVID inquiry ‘Hundreds’ of Albanian migrants returned under ‘gold-standard’ deal – but many have absconded or still in hostels, says Jenrick