Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer does not have good form as a dealmaker – giving away more than he gets and frequently paying for the privilege of doing so. Paying out billions to give away our Chagos Islands military base is just one glaring example – now being re-examined by furious backbenchers – but today’s EU “reset” is another ignominious moment.
Having won back our sovereignty from the EU, a negotiating team of veteran Remainers is doing everything it can to ingratiate ourselves with the Brussels imperium. There was talk of possibly extending a five-year allowance for European fishermen to exploit our waters with annual negotiations but no, Labour has gone much further and surrendered our seas to the EU for 12 years.
In contrast, Norway renegotiates foreign fleets’ access to its waters every single year. Yet again, our fishing industry has been sacrificed to endear ourselves with the Europeans, principally the French who have pushed hardest for the fishing extension.
And in return we don’t even get any agreements on them being tougher with illegal migrant boats setting sail from French coasts.
No doubt the French are content for us to dole out millions to them for standing on beaches watching migrant gangs launching their boats while Sir Keir bleats about “smashing the gangs”.
What we do get in return is a Swissstyle deal in which Britain has to align with EU plant and animal health laws while also accepting European Court of Justice rulings.
As has been said by Brexiteers, that is the worst of both worlds as we become rule takers without being rule makers. One Starmer feels is a good deal.
To get a full picture of what Starmer has given away one only has to look at the figures revealing that EU fishermen will continue to have access to 91% of mackerel, 77% of sole in the Irish Sea and 88% in the North Sea, while European trawlers can net 84% of haddock in the Celtic Sea.
We’ll be lucky if our fishing industry survives the next decade. “An island without a fishing industry,” says Reform leader Nigel Farage. “Why would a North London lawyer care?”
As a human rights lawyer, Starmer has always been a fan of the rules-based international system and cannot get enough of signing us up to supranational organisations that tie us up in regulations that don’t do us any favours.
It’s the way of doing business that suits the liberal global elite who care more about virtue-signalling than making money.
What offends them most is a leader like President Trump who prefers to make multi-billion dollar trade deals resulting in more jobs for his own people.
Not for Starmer, who prefers to give away our sovereignty in the hope France and Germany will be nicer to us. The only thing they really respect is power and Trump got them running round in circles spending money on defence thanks to his toughness.
We can’t even get France to take back immigrants sailing from their shores. Starmer has surrendered to the EU without getting much at all in return.
Perhaps he thought that being a Remainer who once demanded a second Brexit referendum would give him credit in Brussels. But France’s President Emmanuel Macron doesn’t care.
All he wants is the best deal for his fishermen to shore up his plummeting domestic polls.
Further surrenders of sovereignty in the so-called great reset included aligning Britain with the EU’s disastrous energy rules, including renewables that are proving to be unreliable and unprofitable, while the freedom of movement that Europeans want will foist on us thousands of young people who will be given access to living and working here.
So much for controlling our borders. In return, people on city breaks will be delighted that they don’t have to queue a little longer at borders. Much of the reset is about increased information sharing on security matters, which really makes you wonder why our NATO neighbours are not doing this already.
It’s in all our common interests and should not have to be haggled over. However Starmer and Labour spin this reset, it is a slow dismantling of the freedoms we voted for in 2016.
It’s a triumph for the Remainer establishment that never forgave Brexit and they have done everything they can to frustrate it over the past decade.
The reality of this surrender is clear. But Starmer should be careful of what he wishes for. His “reset” can only power up the engine of Reform and its angry patriotic working-class supporters.
