This morning’s Times reports that embattled Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is considering a ‘one in one out’ youth mobility scheme with the EU – whatever that means. It’s all spin, the scheme the EU is planning is simply free movement between the UK and EU for a certain category of people, along with the right to work…
Cooper has let it be briefed in primary colours to the paper of record that she is concerned about any scheme which lasts more than 12 months. Why? Not because of some substantive question over how this all might work – given sky-high levels of public concern about immigration – but because any arrivals under it would mess up the Home Office’s net migration figures – thereby banjaxing any Labour claim to be pursuing immigration control. In fact, the scheme will open the door to asylum claims from future EU member states like Albania and Serbia, and, with no effective border policing, overstayers will just end up in the UK as long as they like. It’s not all exchange students coming to learn about Shakespeare, this is an economic work visa programme…
The major Brexit reversal is likely to be forced on Starmer at next month’s EU-UK summit. Funny then that just last month, the government – in answer to a written question in the Lords – said it had “no plans” for youth mobility scheme. Labour is getting away with murder…
Keir Starmer is cosying up to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in London today ahead of May’s EU-UK summit. Tory MP Alex Burghart asked EU Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds in the Commons this morning whether he’d rule out dropping the UK’s right to annual negotiations on fishing quotas – one of Brexit’s cornerstone victories. He refused:
“We will of course negotiate in the interests of our fishers and indeed implement our rights in terms of marine protections. I’m not going to give a running commentary on the negotiations.”
Currently EU boats are only allowed to catch 75% of what they could pre-Brexit in British waters – an agreement set to expire next year. As reported earlier this week, Starmer’s backing a multi-year deal that scraps annual talks and freezes quotas – opening the floodgates for EU boats to flood British waters once again. Burghart also grilled Thomas-Symonds on whether EU AI regulations would apply in Northern Ireland. Again he refused to rule that out. Starmer’s handover of British sovereignty continues…
Starmer’s drive to rebind Britain to Brussels takes a major step forward at the EU-UK summit on May 19 as he prepares to sign a sweeping new “reset” deal with the EU. The Times reports that an EU-UK defence pact is set to be signed, opening the door for British firms to tap into the EU’s €150 billion defence fund. All because, as one EU diplomat ominously puts it, “the British are making the concessions they need to”…
As part of the deal, Starmer has rolled over on fishing rights. Instead of pushing back on EU access, he’s offered Brussels a multi-year arrangement, replacing annual negotiations and freezing quotas – opening the floodgates to a wave of EU boats with expanded access to British waters. Surrendering a core promise on fishing rights in a blatant betrayal of Brexiteers…
Meanwhile, Starmer is preparing to sign off on ‘dynamic alignment’ with EU standards on products including agrifood, while handing authority to the European Court of Justice over sanitary and phytosanitary measures in the new agreement. Effectively allowing Brussels to dictate the rules British businesses must follow – with the UK having zero control. Starmer’s rejoin-troopers march on…
There is a major bat signal going up in Brexitland this morning as Labour’s full ‘trojan horse’ plan to re-enter the EU is revealed. As Bloomberg reported last night, the government plans to accept ‘dynamic alignment’ of regulations on some products including agrifood goods, and reportedly will accept EU rulings from the European Court of Justice on the sanitary and phytosanitary elements of its new deal with Brussels. All of which means that basically the EU will be setting rules for British businesses, but without the UK having any say…
It’s a real dog’s breakfast of a concession because it now means any Starmer deal will almost certainly make the UK an EU ‘rule taker’ again – rather than just tinkering with political language. This leaves the UK vulnerable to having to accept EU rules again in manufacturing – and importantly – services, which is where the British economy has a real competitive advantage over the EU…
Alarm bells were rung over the government’s Product Regulation and Metrology Bill, which set the stage for this pivot – its measures mean Labour ministers can accept EU rules through the back door, essentially undoing a large part of Brexit. The Tories recently set ‘five tests’ on Brexit – as Guido noted, a little cumbersome, and not a great negotiating signal to Brussels (Eurocrats only understand a hard ‘no’). Every believer in Brexit must now rule out accepting any Starmer agreement, sending a strong message to the EU that a future British government will rip up this surrender deal…
London has dropped out of the top five wealthiest cities in the world, suffering the second-biggest millionaire exodus (12%) globally in the last ten years – only Moscow lost more. According to a study by New World Wealth for Henley & Partners, the capital has haemorrhaged 30,000 dollar millionaires over the last decade. A staggering 11,300 bolted in the last year alone. That’s over a third fleeing while Labour ramped up plans to whack high earners and kill off non-dom status…
Pressed on Sky News about the damning report, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy naturally pointed the finger at Brexit, using it to plug Labour’s dreams of cosying up to Brussels:
“The report points to a variety of factors that have led to that, most specifically Brexit, and one of the things that we’re committed to doing as a government is making sure that we get a far better deal with the European Union that makes sure that we can continue to support British business.”
The people who actually wrote the report mainly blamed the UK’s uncompetitive tax regime. New World Wealth’s head Andrew Amoils said:
“Capital gains tax and estate duty rates [IHT] in the UK are amongst the highest in the world, which deters wealthy business owners and retirees from living there. It’s worth noting that most of the companies on the FTSE 100 were started by centimillionaires, so the loss of these individuals has a massive impact on an economy.”
So not ‘specifically’ Brexit then. Meanwhile, Starmer’s planning major concessions in a new EU ‘reset’ deal next month. Any excuse to edge the UK closer to rejoining the bloc…
Brexiteers will be sending up the bat signal as fresh reports from Bloomberg reveal the UK is on track to secure a major ‘reset’ deal with the EU by May. Starmer’s major shift back to the bloc has been the cornerstone of his foreign policy since he became PM…
President Trump’s tariff announcement has been seized upon as an excuse for deepening UK-EU cooperation. Government officials from both sides now indicate that a defence and security pact is likely to be finalised at the EU-UK summit in London on May 19th. Meanwhile, talks over fishing rights – which the EU has long been pushing for a hard cave-in – are ramping up, with a deal either signed or committed to at the summit. Those 92 EU surrender staff have been busy…
Labour is also pressing ahead with efforts to secure an EU Youth Mobility Scheme, effectively reopening the door to free movement, despite the government’s repeated assurances that Britain would not rejoin the programme. A UK government spokesman said “we will not be providing a running commentary on talks when it comes to our dialogue with the EU.” Translation: Starmer’s road to rejoin is the bloc well underway…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”