Britain faces handing huge sums to the EU for better access to the single market under Keir Starmer‘s ‘reset’.
The PM is pushing for closer ties with the bloc under huge pressure from Europhile Labour MPs and ministers, arguing it can boost the economy.
Legislation expected as soon as next month could sign the UK up to EU rules on food standards, animal welfare and pesticide use.
That has been billed as implementing a deal agreed last year, but Sir Keir has already made clear he wants to go further – while stressing that fully rejoining the customs union and single market are off the table.
Brussels sources have been making clear the government will have to ‘pay to play’ if Labour wants to remove more barriers.
Diplomats told the Financial Times that the bloc’s ‘red lines’ meant the UK would have to obey EU rules and contribute to its budget.
Another official questioned whether there was any appetite in Europe for another renegotiation.
Keir Starmer is pushing for closer ties with the EU under huge pressure from Europhile Labour MPs and ministers, arguing it can boost the economy (pictured with Ursula von der Leyen)
Students from Turkey will be eligible to come to the UK in 2027, as the country is an ‘associate’ member of the Erasmus scheme
‘Brussels is now preoccupied with the Ukraine war, European rearmament and internal negotiations over the next budget cycle,’ they said.
‘There is no remaining bandwidth at this point, while arguably there might have been back in July 2024.’
Sir Keir sparked a storm at the weekend by telling the BBC that he was looking at better access to the single market.
‘I think we should get closer and if it’s in our national interest to have even closer alignment with the single market, then we should consider that,’ he said.
‘If it’s in our interest to do so, we should take that step.’
Critics fear the PM will be forced into more concessions as he desperately hunts for ways of saving his leadership.
The EU is pushing for a ‘youth’ free movement deal that could mean large numbers of people coming to the UK to work.
Before Christmas the government announced it is paying £570million to rejoin the Erasmus student exchange programme.
On an annual basis the sum is double what Boris Johnson rejected as too expensive in 2021.
It is equivalent to roughly a fifth of the entire EU funding envelope for Erasmus+, although the government insists a chunk of the money will go on travel for British youngsters.
Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds sealed the Erasmus deal with the European Commission’s Maros Sefcovic (pictured together in April)
Worryingly, Brussels has already signalled that a 30 per cent ‘discount’ will not be repeated, meaning the cost could hit £810million a year in future.
Students from Turkey will be eligible to come to the UK in 2027, as the country is an ‘associate’ member of the scheme.
And Brussels has declared it wants to expand the arrangements to cover countries such as Egypt, Algeria and Morocco.
Kemi Badenoch accused Sir Keir of taking the country ‘backwards’.
‘Let’s do what we can to make sure we maintain a good relationship with the countries that are next to us in Europe, most of all. But that doesn’t mean following all their rules and being run by them,’ she told GB News.
‘That was the reason why we left in 2016 and what this shows, if it is true, is that Keir Starmer’s got no ideas for what to do with the country. And so he’s just taking us backwards, no vision for the future, no economic plan.
