Keir Starmer is poised to sign his Brexit ‘reset’ deal today despite alarm at concessions.
A late breakthrough in negotiations has paved the way for an agreement to be unveiled at a meeting with Ursula von der Leyen in London.
However, concerns are running high over the price that the UK has had to pay in return for smoother trade.
Critics have warned of a ‘Surrender Summit’ that will leave the country following EU rules again.
There are claims that EU fishing boats will be guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years, after the French mounted a last-minute ambush demanding longer-term guarantees.
Sir Keir is also expected to hand millions of young Europeans the right to live, study and work here for up to three years – a stark contrast with his recent vow to cut immigration.
In return, the deal would see checks on lorries taking food to the continent would be lifted.
Defence firms will also gain access to a £126 billion EU-wide weapons fund, although British taxpayers face having to pay millions for the privilege.
Brit tourists could be spared queues when travelling to the continent, with permission to use e-gates at European airports.
A late breakthrough in negotiations has paved the way for Keir Starmer to unveil a EU ‘reset’ agreement at a meeting with Ursula von der Leyen in London (pictured together last week)
The French are said to have mounted a last-minute ambush on fishing, demanding longer-term guarantees over access to UK coastal waters (file picture of boats in Shetland)
In a round of interviews this morning, Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds refused to confirm whether the deal has been finalised, but said there is a ‘real prize’ for the country.
‘The current deal has huge gaps in it, not just on areas to do with trade, but to do with security as well,’ he told Times Radio.
‘So this is about making people better off, about making the country more secure, about making sure there are more jobs in the UK.’
Mr Reynolds hinted that a youth mobility scheme would have a cap on numbers, insisting other existing arrangements were ‘limited’ and ‘targeted’.
‘It’s not the kind of access people had when we were members of the European Union,’ he said.
‘I think last year, we issued, as a country about 24,000 visas for the various youth mobility schemes. So this is not immigration, it’s not freedom of movement. It’s something very different.
‘Any scheme like this, if you look at the 13 we already have, they are capped, yes,’ he added.
Government sources said ‘huge progress’ has been made in agreeing ‘a mutually beneficial deal with the EU’ that would ‘deliver for British working people’.
But they insisted the Prime Minister has been ‘clear that he will only agree a deal which delivers in the national interest of the United Kingdom’.
Both Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage have already described the deal as a ‘surrender’, despite the full details not yet being known, and indicated they would tear it up if they came to power.
Youth mobility could prove a major sticking point for the Opposition, and Mrs Badenoch said she fears it will involve a return to free movement ‘by the back door’.
Both Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch (pictured) and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage have already described the deal as a ‘surrender’
The Tories have also set out a series of ‘red lines’ on fishing rights, including ensuring exclusive access to Britain’s territorial sea and resisting ‘a multi-year agreement which only benefits France’.
The PM has been urged not to give in to the EU’s demands or give up the Brexit freedoms that 17.4million voted for.
Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel told the Mail: ‘Labour’s great Brexit betrayal consists of them backsliding on our freedoms and hard-won sovereignty.’
