Starmer praises German plans to ‘strengthen' laws to tackle small boats
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The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Sir Keir Starmer under fire after German chancellor slams Brexit — as Brussels demands more UK cash
SIR Keir Starmer yesterday let another EU leader bash Brexit - as Brussels demanded more cash from Britain. The PM sparked fury as he sat back and watched the German Chancellor called the UK's divorce from Europe 'deplorable'. 3 3 Friedrich Merz said: 'It is together that we respond to the major challenges of our time… the UK, and I personally deplore this deeply, decided to leave the European Union.' Last week Sir Keir stayed silent as 'arrogant' French President Emmanuel Macron blamed Brexit for the small boats crisis. The German Chancellor and PM were on a visit to Airbus offices in Stevenage, celebrating the signing of a new treaty aimed at cracking down on people smuggling and boosting defence cooperation. It came as new documents revealed the UK will be forced to pay into EU budgets as the price of Sir Keir's 'Brexit reset'. Taxpayer cash will be funnelled into euro quangos that manage food standards and carbon emission rules. The documents say: 'The United Kingdom should contribute financially to supporting the relevant costs associated with the Union's work in these policy areas.' By paying into the schemes, restrictions on the flow of goods from the UK to the EU will be eased. But Britain will still be blocked from making any changes or amendments to the rules. Reform Deputy Leader Richard Tice said: 'This smugness from Merz follows Macron's insult last week. It is exactly why the public voted to leave behind arrogant continental politicians. 'We have a prime minister and a cabinet full of remainers that hate Brexit and will never take advantage of the freedoms it gave us. Macron wants to PUNISH us for Brexit - you can't rely on the French, says Robert Jenrick in leaked letter row 3
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Keir Starmer's reset deal means we'll pay millions to the EU all over again!
Britain will have to pay into the European Union 's budget under Sir Keir Starmer 's reset deal, it has emerged. The Prime Minister was last night accused of handing a blank cheque to Brussels as part of his controversial post- Brexit agreement. New EU documents reveal that as well as having to follow the same food standards and carbon market guidelines as the rest of the bloc, having left it five years ago, the UK will have to make as yet unknown financial contributions to their regulators. And the papers, reported on by The Telegraph, also make it clear Britain won't be able to make any changes to the rules. Last night shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said: 'Keir Starmer has made Britain a rule-taker from Brussels, and British taxpayers will now pay into the EU budget. Labour does not stand up for Britain on the world stage. 'They give away our money to foreign countries and allow them to make decisions about us.' And deputy leader of Reform UK, Richard Tice MP, said: 'By signing this deal before even agreeing how much these payments will be, Starmer has effectively signed a blank cheque on the UK's behalf. 'We should not be paying into a club we voted to leave at all, of course. Starmer has betrayed his claims to respect the Brexit vote.' Details emerged in a European Commission paper on the terms of the deal agreed by Sir Keir in May, which will see Britain follow EU rules on food standards once more to boost cross-Channel trade. The UK and EU emissions trading schemes will also be linked to avoid new green taxes. The paper states: 'The UK should bear appropriate costs for participation in the common sanitary and phytosanitary area and for the implementation of the agreement to link the UK and the Union's greenhouse emissions trading systems. 'The UK should contribute financially to supporting the relevant costs associated with the Union's work in these policy areas.' It warns: 'Neither agreement should give the UK the right to participate in the Union's decision-making.' It came as Germany's Chancellor berated Britain for leaving the EU. Speaking alongside Sir Keir at an Airbus plant in Stevenage, Friedrich Merz said: 'It is together that we respond to the major challenges of our time. 'The United Kingdom – and I personally deplore this deeply – decided to leave the European Union.'
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Keir Starmer and Friedrich Merz are seeking similar solutions
After the grandeur of Emmanuel Macron's three-day state visit to the United Kingdom earlier this month, Thursday's drop-in by Friederich Merz, Germany's new chancellor, was an altogether more businesslike affair. It was no less significant for that, however. Just as President Macron's extravaganza was intended to finally lift the shadow lingering over Anglo-French relations since Brexit, so Mr Merz's visit, involving the signing of a portmanteau bilateral treaty covering everything from defence to immigration to rail, was meant to cement improving ties between Europe's two biggest economies. Britain's rapprochement with the European Union's heavyweights is due to two men. To the threat posed by Vladimir Putin and his brand of 19th-century expansionism has been added concern over the reliability of Donald Trump as a guarantor of European security. Ukraine has reminded London, Berlin and Paris that shared geography will always beat petty differences. Second-tier powers in a world of established and emerging behemoths, they stand or fall together. This resurgent triad simply recognises this geopolitical fact. Though Sir Keir Starmer is a man of the centre-left, a natural ally of Germany's SPD, he is not so different from Mr Merz, leader of the centre-right CDU. They are men in suits, lawyers by training, late to political leadership, not given to the theatrics of Messrs Trump and Macron. They are also in the market for solutions to similar problems. Both need to re-energise stagnant economies to pay for ageing populations and bigger armed forces. And both must find ways to curb illegal migration if they are defeat the populists — Reform in Britain and the AfD in Germany — menacing their right flanks. At the same time both leaders have things to offer. Rattled by Mr Trump's cavalier treatment of Ukraine and Nato, Germany is seeking a second nuclear blanket under which it can nestle. Britain and France are deepening nuclear co-operation and Mr Merz wants to join the party. Britain may be more accommodating in this regard. While the force de frappe is jealously guarded by Paris, Britain's missile submarines are committed to Nato, signalling a more collegiate approach to deterrence. Mr Merz's visit included the announcement of a new Anglo-German long-range missile that could evolve into a nuclear-tipped weapon. And while the British and French arms industries are direct competitors in some fields, those of Britain and Germany are more complementary. British expertise in fields like nuclear and stealth will be being combined with German cash. With a national debt of 'only' 60 per cent of GDP, and its famed debt brake released, the world's third-largest economy is on a defence spending spree. Britain's renewed importance in shoring up continental Europe's security has resulted in a more receptive attitude to its pleas for help on small boats. Mr Merz's promise to change German law to allow raids on boat storage sites is welcome, though hardly a panacea. The Anglo-German mutual defence clause included in the so-called Kensington treaty might be considered otiose, given Nato. But like the arrangement between London and Paris it signals the direction of travel, towards European strategic autonomy. Thrown together in a more dangerous world, facing similar domestic headaches, Europe's big three are coming together.
