A Labour minister today swiped that Britain’s Brexit trade policies were based on ‘post-imperial delusion’ as he hinted at a major reset of relations with the EU.

Douglas Alexander told MPs the Government was ‘consciously pursuing a trade agenda based on data’ in an attack on the previous Tory administration.

He said ‘the data is pretty devastating in terms of the damage that was done by the way that Brexit was implemented by our predecessors’.

Mr Alexander, who backed Remain and was previously a trade minister in Sir Tony Blair‘s Labour government, warned UK firms had been ‘buried under red tape’ since Brexit. 

The trade minister added that the Government is looking to rebuild relationships across Europe and to find areas which are ‘transparently win-win’.

His remarks will be viewed as a sign that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is preparing to make big concessions to Brussels as he chases an ambitious post-Brexit ‘reset’.

After the 2016 EU referendum, the Conservatives opted for looser ties with Brussels in order to have the freedom to strike free trade deals with countries across the world – such as Commonwealth nations like Australia and India, as well as the US.

Sir Keir has publicly insisted it’s a ‘false choice’ between aligning with Donald Trump’s US and the EU. 

But there have been recent warnings that Labour’s bid to agree a veterinary deal with the EU could put at risk other potential trade deals, such as with America.

The PM is hoping to agree the outline of his ‘reset’ at a UK-EU summit on 19 May.

It has been reported that ministers are trying to agree a trade deal with the US before that summit, amid fears the UK’s rapprochement with Brussels could irritate Mr Trump.

During business and trade questions in the Commons this morning, Mr Alexander was urged by Liberal Democrat MP James MacCleary to make the most of the UK’s summit with the EU.

Mr Alexander told Mr MacCleary the Government was looking to rebuild relationships across Europe, and added the Government was looking to find areas which are ‘transparently win-win’.

He added: ‘I’d be inclined to wait for the summit before declaiming it as a disaster.’

Liberal Democrat trade spokesman Clive Jones said new regulations that businesses were required to follow since Brexit had produced enough paperwork to wrap around the world 15 billion times.

Mr Alexander replied: ‘We are consciously pursuing a trade agenda based on data, not post-imperial delusion, and regrettably the data is pretty devastating in terms of the damage that was done by the way that Brexit was implemented by our predecessors.’

He said an Aston University study showed small and medium-sized exporting businesses had been ‘buried under red tape’ since Brexit.

Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds insisted the Government was not ‘seeking to pick between one market or another’ when it came to the EU and the US.

He said he wanted to ‘push back on anyone attempting to put the case that the decisions that we make have to be based on either the EU, or the US, or any other partner being our principal partner.

Mr Reynolds added: ‘The role for the UK is to position ourselves in this very challenging world with a genuine, strategic advantage because we do things that improve our trading relationship with the EU, we secure this US deal, we secure the deals with India, with the Gulf and other key markets, and are pragmatic about where the UK’s national interest lies.

‘I’m absolutely confident that it’s possible and desirable.’

Asked if the PM agreed with Mr Alexander that Britain’s Brexit trade policies were based on ‘post-imperial delusion’, a No10 spokesman said: ‘The PM has been very clear that we can do better than the botched deal that was brought home by the former government.

‘We have made it very clear we’ll be defined by putting more money into the pockets of working people and providing Britain with long term security and stability.

‘And you can see that in the partnerships that we’re building around the world, whether that’s with the EU, US, India or the Gulf states.

‘We’re not rejoining the EU, we won’t reopen the arguments of the past.

‘But as the Prime Minister has said himself, a better partnership with the EU can unlock benefits for British people and businesses, reducing trade barriers, driving growth and keeping us safe in an increasingly dangerous world.

‘This constructive engagement will continue ahead of the UK-EU summit next month.’