Keir Starmer insisted Brits are ‘tired’ of Brexit rows today as he faced a grilling from MPs over the price of his ‘reset’.
Making a statement to Members of Parliament, the Prime Minister argued that the plan he revealed with EU commission chief Ursula von der Leyen would decrease costs and increase employment opportunities.
He told the House the deals would ‘release’ the country from the ‘arguments of the past’ and showed the UK is ‘back on the world stage’.
Sir Keir believes that removing border checks on food could boost the economy by £9 billion annually by 2040. This could also mean less paperwork for British citizens when traveling.
And he claimed that the EU agreement, along with those done recently with India and the United States, amounted to a ‘hat-trick of deals’.
On the other hand, opposition leader Kemi Badenoch criticized the Prime Minister, stating that his deal was a complete surrender to Brussels. She described it as a “hattrick of deals” but considered them to be damaging “own goals.”
She pointed to huge climbdowns, including bowing to French demands for access to UK fishing waters until 2038. That was far more than the four years Sir Keir originally offered.
Britain will also have to align with the bloc’s food standards and accept its legal jurisdiction, potentially hampering other trade agreements.
And the UK faces contributing Brussels coffers in return for the easing of borders, as well as to access EU defence contracts and connect carbon trading markets.
Reform leader Nigel Farage was not in the Commons for the PM’s statement.
Making a statement to MPs, Keir Starmer argued that the package he unveiled alongside beaming EU commission chief Ursula von der Leyen would ‘drive down bills and drive up jobs’
He made a statement in the Commons after unveiling the long-awaited package alongside beaming EU commission chief Ursula von der Leyen yesterday (pictured)
However, Kemi Badenoch said the premier had ‘failed’ and his deal was a ‘total capitulation’ to Brussels.
The Prime Minister told MP: ‘A trade deal with the world’s fastest growing economy India, cutting tariffs for British industries, a huge boost for our whisky and gin distilleries, their only concern now is whether they can produce enough to sell.
‘And for our car manufacturers, tariffs slashed from over 100 per cent to just 10 per cent with no concessions on visas.
‘A trade deal with the world’s richest economy, the United States, slashing tariffs, saving thousands upon thousands of jobs in car manufacturing in places like JLR, protecting our steel and aluminium exports, and safeguarding interests of our hugely important pharmaceuticals sector.
‘But I can already see that when it comes to this hat-trick of deals, it’s our new partnership with the EU that they (the opposition) most want to talk about.’
He also said the fishing aspect of the EU deal would bring ‘stability’, allowing shellfish from areas like Devon, Cornwall and Scotland to be traded more easily.
But he appeared to rule out an even closer relationship with the EU because it would hamper other trade agreements.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey had called on Sir Keir Starmer to make a customs union deal with the EU which he claimed would be a ‘trade deal to dwarf all other trade deals’.
But the PM replied: ‘The problem with his proposal, as I know he knows, is that we have just struck the deal with India. We have just struck a deal with the US. If we now undo that good work, we undo all the benefits of those two deals.’
Mrs Badenoch laid into the deal, saying: ‘This renegotiation should have been an opportunity to improve terms for our country. The terms are improved for the EU, and the Prime Minister can dress it up as much as he wants, but he has failed.
‘It is bad for bills, it is bad for jobs, and it is bad for borders. This is not a deal made for Britain; this is a deal made for Labour’s PR to show them on the world stage. Well, it is a stitch-up for our country, for their short-term headlines.’
Mrs Badenoch referred to the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO) which had described the deal as a ‘surrender and a giveaway’, the Tory leader told MPs.
She said: ‘Why is the Prime Minister selling our fishermen down the river? Is it because they don’t vote Labour?’
Touring broadcast studios this morning, industry minister Sarah Jones refused to give any figure for the annual costs – although she said it would be less than £9billion.
She told Sky News: ‘We are not paying, through any of this, for access to markets. That is not what we are doing. We are not rejoining the EU.
‘Where we will pay, and these things will be negotiated, where we will pay is where there are joint costs that need to be paid.’
She added: ‘Whatever administrative costs we have to pay, and they will be negotiated and I don’t have an answer for you now on what those costs are, they will be outweighed very significantly by what we estimate will be a £9 billion advantage a year by 2040.’
Alarm has been raised over other broad commitments Sir Keir has made, without any clarity over the detail.
A youth ‘experience’ scheme has been agreed in principle, potentially allowing a form of free movement for 18-30 year-olds. But there is no indication of how many people that will cover.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan suggested part of the purpose of the scheme would be ‘filling vacancies in some of our key sectors’ – despite Sir Keir vowing a crackdown on eye-watering immigration levels.
‘I hope this agreement is a springboard for further deals and closer alignment in other key sectors – such as our financial services and our major creative sectors – all vital to our capital’s prosperity,’ Mr Khan added.
Mrs Badenoch and Nigel Farage have both pledged to scrap the deal if they win power at the next election.
Touring broadcast studios this morning, industry minister Sarah Jones refused to give any figure for the annual costs – although she said it would be less than £9billion
But in a mechanism branded the ‘Reform clause’, Brussels would be able to impose swingeing tariffs on British exports if the fishing agreement is torn up early by a new government.
That is because Sir Keir has agreed to amend the text of the trade treat signed by Boris Johnson in 2020.
Speaking in the garden of Downing Street last night, the PM told EU and UK business figures that the deal was ‘good for bills, good for jobs, good for borders’.
He also hailed a ‘mood change’ in the relationship with the bloc, adding: ‘The EU and the UK wanting to work together, all of us prepared to say let yesterday be yesterday, we are looking forward to tomorrow.
‘We are not going to litigate old arguments, we are going to go forward in the spirit of what we do together, we do better.’
The PM hit out at the ‘myth that next year everybody was free to do what they like’ if he had not extended the fishing deal with the EU.
Sir Keir was earlier accused by the Conservatives of having ‘surrendered’ many of the gains they negotiated post-Brexit.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the BBC that the UK was in a ‘better place than any country in the world’ on trade.
‘The first deal and the best deal so far with the US, we’ve got the best deal with the EU for any country outside the EU, and we’ve got the best trade agreement with India,’ she said.
‘Not only are these important in their own right, but it also shows that Britain now is the place for investment and business, because we’ve got preferential deals with the biggest economies around the world.’
