Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of forming an EU “surrender squad” to reverse Brexit as part of his plan to reset the UK’s relationship with Brussels.
A team of over 100 civil servants is being assembled to run the UK’s negotiations with Brussels, with insiders saying its purpose is to invalidate the 2016 vote to leave the EU.
Friday evening, critics cautioned that Starmer was about to throw away the freedoms and opportunities of Brexit to permanently bind the UK to an EU power, returning the country to the role of rule-taker rather than rule-maker.
Insider sources have said the new team will aim to ensure that concessions given to Brussels will be nearly impossible to undo by a future Tory Government.
Critics cautioned that Starmer was about to throw away the freedoms and opportunities of Brexit
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The source said: “The officials are being drawn from every government department, and they have been told that they will have full powers to demand whatever they need from any corner of Whitehall to make the reset work.”
Kemi Badenoch has hit out at the Prime Minister, saying he was taking the country backwards.
She claimed: “In every negotiation – from trade union pay deals to the Chagos islands – Keir Starmer has given away everything for nothing in return. The question now is what price we all pay for the Prime Minister to take us back to his EU comfort zone?”
The team is understood to be put in the Cabinet Office – close to No10 – which is currently occupied by senior national security officials.
It will be run by a civil servant with a £200,000 paycheck with the title of Second Permanent Secretary, European Union and International Economic Affairs. This person will report to Nick Tomas Symonds, the Minister for EU Relations.
Boris Johnson’s former Brexit negotiator Lord Frost said Labour naturally wanted to rejoin the EU, and could not hide their plans to create the so-called ‘surrender squad’.
He stated: “Everyone in this Government really wants to rejoin the EU one day. Only public opinion is stopping them.
“So they are trying to act in secrecy and conceal their plans to align with EU rules, to bring back EU law and to give away our fishing grounds, by calling all this just a ‘reset’.”
He added that this move will end with the UK losing the ability to make its own rules and laws. He said: “It’s time for those who support our national independence and democracy to wake up.”
Starmer will join European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and EU leaders in February
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Starmer will join European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and EU leaders in February, following Rachel Reeves’s visit last week to join a meeting of EU finance ministers. This will be the first meeting between a British leader and the 27 members since Brexit.
Meanwhile, before any talks for closer EU-UK trade ties, Brussels is expected to demand freedom of movement for young people, an acceptance of EU laws and the continued right for European countries to fish in British waters past 2026.
The EU blueprint, which will be presented to European ministers, says the UK must agree to “the maintenance of the status quo” on access for European boats to UK waters before talks can even begin.
It would also require the Government to abide by rulings from the European Court of Justice.
A spokesman said: “This Government is resetting its relationship with the EU and wants to strengthen cooperation, to make people safer and tackle barriers to trade, to help drive economic growth.”
“There will be no return to the customs union, single market or freedom of movement. The UK Government will always work to protect the interests of our fishers.”
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