GLEN OWEN: EU leaders’ new-deal concessions would anger Brexiteers
If Sir Keir Starmer thought his ardent Europhilia would lead to a swift post-election deal with Brussels, he has received a shock. The Prime Minister has vowed to ‘reset’ relations with the EU without having to make any concessions that would alienate Labour’s Brexit-supporting voters. But it turns out that Brussels federalists are not just truculent and obstructive with Conservative governments.
EU leaders have made it clear that if Sir Keir wants a deal, he will indeed have to make concessions, which would dismay the millions of Britons who voted Leave.
The PM had set himself the target of securing a quick ‘win’ by January in four areas: a new security pact, easier touring for UK musicians in the EU, greater access to the bloc for UK professionals and fewer border checks on food and drink exports.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at a press conference in Berlin last week
To achieve this, however, he will have to reintroduce freedom of movement in the UK for EU citizens aged under 30. He must also exempt EU students from the high university fees charged in Britain to other international students.
If Sir Keir agrees, pro-Brexit voters – include those in the northern Red Wall seats Labour won back from the Tories in the General Election – will surely revolt. But if he doesn’t, he will leave any talks empty-handed. A source said: ‘If Starmer doesn’t agree to free movement and equal tuition fees, he will receive a good old-fashioned ‘non’.’
His strategy of trying to cosy up to France and Germany rather then dealing directly with Brussels has ‘gone down like a f**t in un ascenseur’, according to one diplomat close to the negotiations. ‘Starmer has over-reached and p***** off the Brussels bubble. The EU hates the idea of separate little deals because it would damage the EU project. It’s all or nothing for them.’
The strategy – masterminded by Paymaster General Nick Thomas-Symonds in the Cabinet Office rather than David Lammy’s Foreign Office – started with Sir Keir’s schmoozefest with European leaders at a summit at Blenheim Palace in July. It has since involved multiple meetings with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Fees of £9,250 a year for UK students compare with more than five times that for international students in the most expensive disciplines. Meanwhile, EU sources have said that some form of youth mobility deal allowing 18- to 30-year-olds to work and travel here is an ‘indispensable element’ of any new pact. Not only that, but they have indicated Labour should ‘manage expectations’ about what is achievable if Sir Keir keeps his pledge not to rejoin the EU single market, accept freedom of movement or form a customs union with the bloc.
They have also made it clear that a security pact should not be a backdoor route into the EU market for UK defence companies.
Perhaps in a nod to Sir Keir’s past as a childhood flautist, the Cabinet Office insists that ‘the mood music is good’ on the negotiations and that it is ‘too early for any substantive talks to have taken place’. They point to the so-called ‘E3’ axis with the French and Germans and the joint diplomatic visit Mr Lammy made in August to the Middle East with French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné. ‘The Sunak Government spent five months trying to get that mission with the French sorted and we arranged it in a few weeks,’ a Minister said.
According to a Cabinet Office spokesman: ‘We will work to reset the relationship with our European friends to strengthen ties, secure a broad-based security pact and tackle barriers to trade. Britain is stronger when we work with others.’ But as one Minister put it, unless Sir Keir opens the ‘can of worms’ on free movement, ‘there are limits to how far we can go’. A Labour insider said: ‘He’s boxed himself in. He can’t offer Europe anything meaningful.’
It’s not just Eurocrats who are unhappy about Sir Keir’s strategy. One senior Labour MP and Brexiteer believes that far from making him looking statesmanlike and diplomatic, it has made the PM look weak.
The MP said: ‘To be honest, he looks desperate. He doesn’t look powerful – he appears to be going round Europe cap in hand, begging for a deal.
‘Everyone at Westminster knows how, as Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit spokesman, Starmer fought for a second referendum to thwart the Brexit result. That is why the EU leaders take his vow to respect the Brexit vote with a pinch of salt.’
Sir Keir Starmer with French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of their meeting last week at the Elysee Palace in Paris
Despite his Remainer passions, the PM has repeatedly dismissed any talk of a return to free movement, the single market or a customs union. But many senior Labour figures are urging Sir Keir to return to his Remainer roots.
At a meeting of the Labour Movement for Europe a couple of days after the Blenheim summit, former party leader Lord (Neil) Kinnock suggested a far more gung-ho approach to restoring the relationship.
‘Fortune favours the brave – especially in the wake of a triumphant victory in the election,’ he told the meeting. He also urged pro-EU Labour MPs to ‘support all efforts by the new Labour Government in building a new relationship with the EU as quickly, as broadly, and – I am not afraid to use the word – as adventurously as we can’.
Adventurous, though, is hardly Sir Keir’s middle name. And when it comes to the poker game with an intransigent EU, Labour Eurosceptics fear that the result is pre-determined.
Said one: ‘When it comes to a showdown, we all know who’ll blink first in this. And it won’t be Brussels.’
