Britain would lose Margaret Thatcher’s EU rebate and pay at least £5 billion a year more than before Brexit if Labour drags the country back into Brussels, according to the UK’s last European commissioner. The Burnham premium would cost billions…
Sir Julian King warns today that Brussels would not tolerate any “special deal” on re-entry. Which is obvious to everyone on planet Earth other than the people fighting for the keys to Number 10…
He tells the Telegraph:
“The door’s open, but we shouldn’t expect any special deal. That doesn’t mean, in practice, adopting the euro, but it would mean renewed free movement across Europe and a significant budget contribution. Those advocating [rejoining] need to build sustainable public support for what EU membership really involves.”
What it really involves is the return of free movement, a “significant budget contribution” (which is code for ‘multiple billions’), surrendering our waters, and entering a torturous 10-year application process in which Prime Minister Burnham / Streeting / Miliband would have to go cap in hand to Brussels begging for mercy. Vote Leave chief Lord Elliott estimated last month that the full annual membership bill would hit £22 billion, which is three times the current prisons budget. That is a conservative estimate…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”