As Guido revealed last Thursday, Labour has created a huge new “EU” surrender unit in the Cabinet Office. The story went on to splash the Mail on Sunday yesterday…
The paper reported the unit is: “An all-powerful team of more than 100 civil servants is being assembled to run the UK’s negotiations with Brussels – with insiders claiming its purpose is to negate the historic 2016 vote to leave the EU.” AKA, the surrender unit…
Kemi Badenoch slammed Starmer for the development, saying: “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?” Labour’s gradual but unsubtle attempt to reverse Brexit is a massive open goal for the Tories. They could recap all the evidence by perusing Guido’s ‘Labour Rejoin’ series…
Labour is ploughing ahead with its vaunted EU “reset” – Starmer is due to meet the 27 European Council leaders on 3rd February, the first PM to do so since Brexit. Back at home the machinery of the blob is being squarely aimed towards the continent…
Guido revealed in October that the Home Office was forming a new “Europe Hub” to forge closer ties to the bloc. Now Guido hears a massive new EU unit has set up in the all-powerful Cabinet Office. Primarily formed from staff in the FCDO’s old European Union Relations Directorate, the hub reports to Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden. So far the UK’s efforts for a reset have resulted in the EU advising member states to block our access to their energy markets…
Around 60 staff are working in the unit on the third floor of the Cabinet Office. One civil servant with knowledge of the hub says it’s working towards “softening rough edges” with the EU on regulatory matters. The stagnant EU is determined to play hard ball – all while the UK pivots away from a fast-growing United States…
Starmer’s “reset” with the EU is shaping up look like a one-sided sellout. True to form, Brussels is wasting no time exploiting the PM’s eagerness to cosy up to the bloc at Britain’s expense. According to a document obtained by the FT, the European Commission is advising member states to block the UK from gaining deeper access to EU electricity markets. So much for Starmer’s promises on energy security…
The document setting out policy positions on the upcoming “reset” of EU-UK relations states the EU’s “no cherry-picking” rule remains firmly in place when it comes to the UK and electricity trading:
“The UK’s decision not to rejoin the single market limits the possibilities for other options to be considered, sectoral participation in the EU energy market would not be in the union’s interest and would be contrary to the European Council guidelines.”
Using Starmer’s “reset” to give the UK the cold-shoulder…
As Starmer continues pandering to a bloc that clearly isn’t interested in fair play, his calls for greater “market access” and “trade across the North Sea” are setting off alarm bells for Brexiteers. Meanwhile, since the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement came into force, Britain has been exporting more electricity to the bloc than it imports. Labour’s “businesslike” relationship with the bloc is more give from the UK, and take from EU…
Civil Servants have just been told that the Home Office is creating a new “Europe Hub” in the government’s latest push for closer ties with the EU. The unit will sit within the International Strategy, Engagement and Devolution Directorate and “will have responsibility for ensuring that our strategic approach to this work is coherent, working collaboratively across the Department.” The strategic approach being – give up Brexit freedoms to cosy up to the Commission…
Home Office Permanent Secretary and arch-pen-pusher Matthew Rycroft pours adulation on the new unit:
“With shared global challenges in areas such as irregular migration, a strong UK-EU alliance is vital. This work is critical to the Home Secretary’s priorities for the Department on border security, safer streets and our national security.”
Dan Hobbs, Director General of the Migration and Borders Group, will lead the new unit after Starmer’s visit to Brussels this month paved the way for saccharine relations between Starmer and Von der Leyen. Expect the hard graft of Labour’s rejoin efforts to be done in this unit…
It’s a rude awakening for French President Macron. He’s had to admit that the EU is “over-regulating and under-investing”. Coming round to the UK’s realisation 8 years later…
Speaking to Bloomberg TV, the ‘Macaron’ said:
“We are over-regulating and under-investing. So just if in the 2 to 3 years to come, if we follow our classical agenda, we will be out of the market, I have no doubt…I think the simplification agenda and the let’s say pause in terms of regulation, but even deregulation in some issues, it’s absolutely critical.”
Not the best advertisement for the Bloc coming from the EU’s Champion-in-Chief. Meanwhile, the UK – now free from the shackles of the EU’s red tape – is the top destination for investment in financial services and has the highest GDP growth in 2024 than any other European country in the G7. Condoléances, Monsieur President…
Nick Clegg is finally facing the reality of Brussels bureaucracy. The former Deputy Prime Minister-turned tech bro took to X to beg the new Commission to cut the red tape that is currently blocking Meta AI from expanding within Europe. Thanks to Brexit, the new technologly can operate within the UK…
We’re expanding Meta AI to more countries, including Brazil and the UK. Unfortunately, we still can’t roll it out in the EU because of the regulatory uncertainty we face there. I hope the new Commission looks afresh at these issues, consistent with President Von Der Leyen’s aim…
— Nick Clegg (@nickclegg) October 10, 2024
Guido is old enough to remember when Clegg personally led a group of Remainers to persuade European leaders to stop Brexit from going ahead… two years after the vote. The remoaner-in-chief will be breathing a sigh of relief that he failed in that mission, now that Brexit’s provided him with an additional client…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”