Starmer is this morning kicking off the fourth European Political Community (EPC) summit at Blenheim Palace. He has billed it as a friendly “reset” of UK/EU relations combined with talks to co-operate on migration. Like having migrants sent over from EU countries…

Labour is now briefing hard that it is “nowhere near” a re-negotiation. David Lammy said that it would be silly to argue Labour was heading down the rejoin path because they were only two weeks into government. No attempt to say he’s not trying to reverse Brexit…

Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations Nick Thomas-Symonds has been busy this week going for meeting with EU officials to push forward that very same “re-negotiation“. The government has strong commitments to “dynamic alignment” (rule-taking) with the EU on regulatory grounds while pushing for a defence pact that would destroy the current flexible ad hoc arrangement the UK currently enjoys. Cosying up is all well and good, soon enough the EU is going to start talking concessions…