Keir Starmer says a closer relationship with Europe is in the UK’s best interest. Plans to align more dynamically with some EU rules are being defended as a pragmatic response to global instability and the cost-of-living squeeze. At the same time, the EU is extending roaming to neighbours like the Western Balkans, while UK consumers are left behind. It’s time to put roaming on the table, and aim for a ‘Roam Like at Home’ deal.
From reset to deeper ties
In April, Starmer backed using so-called Henry VIII powers to align more closely with EU rules where it benefits Britain, arguing the world has changed since the referendum. He says this isn’t integration “by stealth” but a necessary move to cut trade frictions and ease food prices against the backdrop of the Iran war.
At the start of the month he went further, framing a deeper EU partnership as essential for trade and defence, citing deep damage from Brexit and volatility under Trump. He spoke of an ambitious summer summit to go beyond last year’s Lancaster House deal, including closer work on the single market, security, energy and the economy.
But Labour’s official position still sits behind old red lines. The party’s 2024 manifesto ruled out rejoining the Single Market and Customs Union. If the facts really have changed, as Starmer now argues, those commitments should be updated. Rejoining the Single Market and Customs Union would not only ease trade barriers, it would also restore everyday rights we lost – including free roaming.
If obtaining full Single Market membership is deemed too slow a process, a pragmatic alternative is EFTA (European Free Trade Association) membership to rejoin the EEA (European Economic Area). That route would restore the four freedoms (free movement of goods, persons, services, and capital), which include mobile roaming, as a stepping stone.
A louder chorus in favour of return
Sadiq Khan is pushing Labour to go further. Last month he called on the party to rejoin the Customs Union and Single Market before the next general election, expected in 2029, and has urged Labour to fight the next election on a promise to rejoin the EU outright.
For now, Westminster’s big strategic blueprint barely mentions consumers at all. The Foreign Affairs Committee’s recent report, “From a Common Understanding to Common Ground”, runs through trade, security and energy, but has nothing on mobile roaming. It’s a stark omission, given the impact on travellers and border communities.
The EU is leaving the UK behind on roaming
While Westminster dithers, the EU is widening Roam Like at Home to neighbours. The European Commission has proposed opening negotiations with Western Balkan countries to integrate them into the regime, meaning no extra surcharges for calls, texts and data.
Ukraine and Moldova have already been integrated into roaming frameworks. By contrast, the UK is at risk of being bypassed while other partners are brought in.
In Westminster, the government’s passivity is telling. In November 2025, Kanishka Narayan, a minister at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, told MPs that because the UK is no longer part of the EU Roaming Regulation, whether to impose surcharges is entirely up to mobile operators. That’s an admission of political absence, not neutrality.
The consumer case for action
The European Consumer Organisation, BEUC, has highlighted the uncertainty facing UK and EU travellers. In a 2025 paper, it notes that several UK providers have brought back roaming fees since 2021, and highlights the risk of inadvertent roaming in Northern Ireland, where more than 818,000 people live in border areas. Its solution is straightforward: the EU and UK should negotiate a roaming agreement to allow the UK to rejoin Roam Like at Home, giving consumers greater certainty and lower costs.
Closer to home, Brexit Spotlight highlighted the return of charges, urging the UK and EU to strike a deal to stop “chipping away” at roaming benefits.
Right wing promises, right wing amnesia
During the Brexit referendum campaign, outlets like the Daily Mail that loudly backed ‘Leave’ told readers in September 2018 not to worry, saying that Britons would not pay EU roaming charges “even in the event of ‘no deal’”. They quoted Dominic Raab who promised a cap on roaming fees as he had ‘made a deal with big phone firms’.
By 2024, the same Daily Mail was running guides on how to avoid “an expensive mobile phone bill this summer”, noting that only 11 networks still let you roam for free in Europe, and that the average holiday phone bill was around £58.
Selling a Brexit that was meant to keep costs down, then treating higher bills as something consumers must simply learn to avoid, exposes how cavalierly some in the press treated people’s everyday concerns.
Why a UK/EU roaming deal matters now
The government’s current stance – that this is all up to operators – is not good enough. If Starmer is serious about repairing Brexit’s “deep damage” and cutting the cost of living, putting roaming back on the agenda should be an easy win.
An agreement to reinstate Roam Like at Home would:
- provide certainty for UK travellers in the EU and EU visitors here;
- remove the risk of charges in Northern Ireland where inadvertent roaming is a reality;
- show, in a very visible way, that “reset” means something practical for people’s lives, not just technocratic tweaks.
It would also signal that the UK is willing to negotiate on the everyday benefits that really matter. If Switzerland can talk about dynamic alignment in sectors like food and energy, and the Western Balkans can be brought into roaming, there is no good reason Britain shouldn’t do the same.
The choice is clear. Leave UK consumers at the mercy of mobile firms, or use the new EU partnership to bring back Roam Like at Home. Politics and slogans got us into this mess; pragmatism and negotiation should get us out.
The author used AI tools to assist with the final draft, specifically for spell-checking, grammar, and proofreading to overcome dyslexia problems.
