Kemi Badenoch – who is hailed as a possible future Tory leader – has said that Labour will reverse Brexit if they get into power.

The Business Secretary says Brexit is a long term project but that a General Election win for Labour will see them row back on any progress.

Labour leader Keir Starmer wants closer cooperation with Brussels on education, defence and security. He has also revealed that he does wants to stick with EU standards on workers’ rights and food standards.

But Mrs Badenoch said that Brexit is “a 10 or 20-year project” and that the Government has only “just started” to reap the benefits from the decision that was made eight years tomorrow, Sunday, June 23.

She said: “Making sure everyone is focused on getting those benefits is absolutely critical.

“I think that’s one area where I’ve tried to do as much as possible, but we need more of that strategy,” she told the Telegraph.

Mrs Badenoch said that the ambition to make the most of Brexit will totally fizzle out under a new Labour Government saying “they will take us backwards” and “back to square one”.

She added: “They’re just going to copy what the EU does.”

Meanwhile, it’s reported that Brussels could humiliate Sir Keir Starmer if he is elected PM by snubbing his request for a closer relationship.

The Labour leader’s hopes to “deepen ties” with Brussels look set to be ignored, according to a new analysis.

A report from the UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE) reveals that the EU wants to “reduce its reliance on foreign partners” and focus on “strategic autonomy”.

It adds: “The EU is evolving in a direction which is likely to make deeper cooperation with the UK harder.”

Anand Menon, director of UKICE, said the EU had moved on from the UK and it’s too late to rewrite the Brexit deal.

UKICE said that Brussels will become a “more challenging partner for the UK to work with” in the coming years.

The analysis claims that the UK would have to offer up some Brexit freedoms, such as a mobility agreement, to win any deal.