"Starmer has betrayed Brexit comprehensively. The will of the people has been flouted"
Telegraph: 19th May 2025: Former Chief Negotiator for exiting the European Union and Conservative Peer, Lord Frost, explains why Starmer's EU deal is something we should all be worried about.
"...Well, now we have Starmer’s deal, and it’s even worse than I thought... So what the hell just happened? Five bad things...
First, and despite Labour’s manifesto commitment to the contrary, we are rejoining the single market for agrifood. We must apply EU laws in our farming and food sectors, in all companies and farms, whether they trade with the EU or not, and EU courts will have the final say on disputes...
Second, it commits us to joining the single market for electricity, the EU’s carbon trading scheme, and their scheme to put tariffs on carbon-unfriendly goods... You may think that energy prices are high enough already, but watch this space, because the EU’s carbon price is 50 per cent higher than ours. Worse still, we commit to net zero obligations “at least as ambitious as the EU”. Want to get out of net zero? Tough: you can’t, unless the EU agrees...
Third, we’ve abandoned control of our fishing grounds... until the incredible date of 2038. The UK originally asked for four years and thought the EU might accept six or seven. We finally agreed to 12... I’m reminded of Churchill’s wry comment on his dreadnought-building programme: “The Admiralty demanded six ships; the economists offered four; and we finally compromised on eight.”...
Fourth, there will be a youth mobility scheme. It’s rebranded a youth “experience” scheme ... There is no commitment to a cap on numbers, merely that the “overall number of participants is acceptable to both sides”. Who can have confidence Labour would be tough here? Let’s hope they don’t move their fisheries negotiator to youth mobility...
And finally, we have to pay. A fee for the right to be governed by the EU on agrifood. Another fee to accept their energy and net zero rules. And a fee to rejoin the Erasmus student scheme...
..In short: this deal concedes important British interests for very little in return. It begins the process of bit by bit bringing this country back into the embrace of the single market and customs union...The Conservatives are right to commit to returning these powers to Britain, and Reform is even more right to say that the Windsor Framework and other EU law relics must be scrapped too..."
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"All the times Starmer showed his true colours on the EU" - "Sir Keir Starmer has insisted the UK will not rejoin the European Union by stealth as part of his “reset” deal with the bloc. But the Prime Minister has made no secret of his affection for the EU after seeking to frustrate Brexit as part of Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet.The Telegraph looks at all the times Sir Keir has shown his true colours on the Europe question."