Many are saying that Apple can't comply without breaking EU GDPR. Hence Apple has been put in the situation where they are forced to accept either operating in the UK market or the EU market.

So my question is (am genuinely not being snarky) why would the UK gov put Apple in this situation? The current leader (Starmer) is a lawyer surely he must have been aware of the legal predicament this would put Apple in, what is the intention behind asking for something that you are fully aware there is absolutely no chance they can comply with?