Starmer set to announce new EU deal at London summit
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is hosting a major summit with the bloc on Monday.
Sir Keir Starmer is set to announce a new deal with the EU in the coming week as he hosts a major summit with the bloc in London.
Details of the agreement are yet to be revealed but reports have suggested it could focus on UK access to a major EU defence fund, with a youth mobility scheme also said to be on the table.
Ahead of Monday’s summit, the Prime Minister said the meeting would be “another step forwards, with yet more benefits for the United Kingdom” and “a strengthened partnership with the European Union”.
He said: “It will be good for our jobs, good for our bills and good for our borders.
“That’s what the British people voted for last year, and it’s what my Government will deliver.”
Monday’s meeting will bring Sir Keir together with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen for the second time in four days, after the two met for 30 minutes on the margins of the European Political Community Summit in Albania on Friday.
Opposition figures have already spoken out against Sir Keir’s deal with the EU, with both Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK’s Nigel Farage claiming the agreement – which has not yet been announced – is a “surrender” and vowing to rip it up.
Mrs Badenoch said Sir Keir should have focused on “new wins for Britain”, including allowing UK citizens to use e-gates at European airports.
She added: “Instead, it sounds like we’re giving away our fishing quotas, becoming a rule-taker from Brussels once again and getting free movement by the back door.”
Meanwhile, others have pushed the Government to go further, with the Liberal Democrats urging a closer relationship with the EU.
The party claimed a new trade deal that included “deep alignment” with the bloc on goods and services would provide enough economic growth to reverse cuts to welfare and the winter fuel payment.
Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman Calum Miller said: “A far more ambitious trade deal with Europe, including a new UK-EU customs union, would be the single biggest thing ministers could do to boost growth and fix the public finances.
“The Liberal Democrats stand ready to work constructively with Labour MPs to boost trade with Europe and avoid savage cuts for vulnerable families and pensioners.”
MPs on the cross-party Commons Foreign Affairs Committee also pushed the Government to be “bolder” and back a youth mobility scheme, similar to those the UK operates with countries including Australia and Canada.
But the committee also accused the Government of failing to articulate a “compelling political narrative” for the reset and being overly “secretive” about its aims and the negotiations.
The MPs said this had left those outside Westminster “unclear” about British policy and unconvinced of the “strategic importance” of making the reset a success.
