Keir Starmer has been accused of betraying Brexit voters (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of cosying up to the after becoming the first post- Prime Minister to attend a bloc summit in Brussels this week.
The five year anniversary of on January 31 has prompted reflection on Britain’s five years officially outside the EU – and also increased scrutiny of the Prime Minister’s attempts to renew ties with Brussels.
After meeting with EU leaders on Monday, Brexiteers have accused Mr Starmer of betraying the 51.9% of UK voters who chose to leave the bloc, with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch suggesting he was trying to “reopen the divisions of the past and edge us back into the EU”.
The Prime Minister told reporters that while was “settled”, he was pursuing a “reset of the relationship between the UK and the EU”, particularly focusing on the issues of defence and security, energy and trade.
However, concerns have been raised by oppositionary politicians about the concessions he would be willing to make with EU leaders for defence co-operation against “state threats and sabotage”.
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The bloc has called for a free youth movement deal and access to fishing waters – and French diplomats have suggested that Mr Starmer’s willingness to engage in the summit is evidence that has “failed”.
After arriving in Brussels, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also called for the UK to get “as close as possible” to the EU again on “security, defence and trade issues”.
Ms Badenoch set out five “tests” for the Prime Minister to measure whether he was planning to “undo” ahead of the summit, including a commitment to no “backsliding” on free movement, no new money paid to the bloc and no reduction in fishing rights.
Reform UK leader has also warned the Government that close ties with the EU could mean less flexibility to make a trade deal with ’s US administration.
Mr Farage, whose party edged ahead of Labour in a YouGov poll for the first time this week, told the Daily Express: “All I would say to Starmer is ‘don’t take us back so closely to the EU that you damage our ability to do a trade deal with America’. That’s my real message.”
The Prime Minister has insisted that the UK is “not choosing between the US and the EU” amid fears that Mr Trump will announce high tariffs on EU countries after proposing 25% levies on Canada and Mexico over the weekend.
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Nigel Farage has warned that close EU ties could harm the UK’s relationship with the US (Image: Getty)
The President has also demanded increased defence spending from NATO members in Europe and threatened to take over Denmark’s Greenland territory.
Mr Starmer did not comment on the fifth anniversary of Britain officially leaving the EU on January 31, 2020, after Tory Prime Minister finally pushed through a deal three-and-a-half years after the 2016 referendum.
A poll commissioned by the Daily Express showed that only one in 10 Brits had faith in the Labour leader to deliver on the promises of five years on from the break.
43% of those surveyed by Whitestone Insight said they thought would be more successful if the UK could trade more freely across global markets, while 42% said it would be strengthened by stopping illegal immigration and 37% said attracting more business investment would be the best way to maximise its effects.