Starmer: EU reset is good for our borders

Telegraph

17-05-2025

Sir Keir Starmer has promised that his plan to reset relations with the European Union will be 'good for our borders' despite warnings that tens of thousands of migrants will flood into the country.
The Government is locked in negotiations to determine how long young Europeans will be able to live and work in the UK as part of a deal to be announced on Monday.
The Telegraph understands that the EU is pushing for a Youth Mobility Scheme to allow migrants aged between 18 and 30 to stay in the UK for as long as three years.
Labour's minister for EU relations said that the reset would see Britain 'standing side by side with the EU'.
However, MPs from Labour's Red Wall have warned that the deal amounts to a reversal of Brexit and will alienate voters. The party is battling to fend off the threat from Reform UK, which has vowed to reverse any deal.
Speaking ahead of the final day of negotiations, Sir Keir insisted that his deal 'will be good for our jobs, good for our bills and good for our borders'.
He said: 'That's what the British people voted for last year, and it's what my Government will deliver.'
'Disingenuous charlatan'
However, the Conservatives challenged Labour's claims, with Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, saying: 'This scheme could open the floodgates to tens of thousands or more flooding into the country including people who recently entered Europe illegally and then got citizenship, which in some countries can happen in just three years.
'Last week, Starmer said he wanted to clamp down on immigration but he's now on the verge of throwing open the doors. He is a disingenuous charlatan when it comes to our border security.'
British officials negotiating the terms of the Youth Mobility Scheme are pushing for a hard numerical cap amid government concerns of an 'imbalance' between Europeans arriving and Britons leaving for the Continent.
Sir Sadiq Khan, the Labour Mayor of London, said that the plan would lead to EU migrants filling vacancies in the health and social care sector despite the Government announcing a crackdown on foreigners taking such jobs last week.
He told BBC Newsnight that the agreement would 'put rocket boosters up businesses in London where we have critical gaps in hospitality, in creative industries, in health and social care, in other sectors'.
But critics warned that the agreement would undermine Sir Keir's crackdown on mass immigration, which he unveiled last week in a speech warning that the UK was becoming an 'island of strangers'.
Negotiators are attempting to model the scheme on an existing arrangement the UK has with Australia, which is capped at 42,000 people a year.
That scheme was originally limited to two years' stay in Britain but was extended to three.
A Whitehall source close to the negotiations told The Telegraph: 'Obviously we're a country of 60 million people and they're a bloc of 450 million, so there are fears in government of an imbalance in numbers, and in terms of who is benefitting on each side.'
Discussions are expected to continue until the early hours of Monday morning as officials hash out further details on food and fishing.
Britain is set to concede to the EU on food standards, aligning with Brussels' rules on plant and animal health.
Such a deal – an agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards – would reduce trade barriers on food but mean that the UK would be obliged to follow European Court of Justice decisions in the case of disputes.
EU representatives are pushing for a time-limited agreement on food standards.
Officials are also wrangling over arrangements to allow European fishing boats access to British waters. Brussels' negotiators are pushing for four years of access, while the British side is understood to be holding firm on one year.
Separately, a defence and security pact with the bloc is understood to have been agreed, paving the way for British access to a fund of rearmament loans worth €150 billion.
Writing in The Telegraph below, Nick Thomas-Symonds, the EU relations minister, said that 'in an uncertain world' Britain was now 'standing side by side with the EU'.
He added: 'We aren't interested in rehashing old ideologies or fights. The world has moved on.'
Sir Keir will claim that the deal marks the third in a hat-trick of diplomatic successes, following trade agreements with India and the USA, when he unveils the agreement in principle on Monday at Lancaster House in London.
However, MPs within his own party – as well as the Conservatives and Reform, who seized hundreds of council seats from Labour at this month's local elections – have warned that the 'reset' will undermine Brexit promises.
Graham Stringer, the veteran Labour MP for Blackley and Middleton South in Manchester who supported Leave, told The Telegraph that the deal would amount to 'opening borders at a time when Starmer appears to want to take back control. It's giving up control.'
Another Labour MP in the Red Wall said: 'Anything that remotely resembles freedom of movement needs to be treated with utmost caution. The politics is very delicate on youth mobility'.
Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, told The Telegraph this week that he would scrap Sir Keir's Brexit deal if he was elected prime minister.
'The PM thinks he will get away with this surrender deal, but he underestimates how strong Brexit feeling still is in the Red Wall,' he said. 'The whole reset is an abject surrender from Starmer and politically something he will come to regret.'
Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, echoed his language, saying the deal would mean 'getting free movement by the back door. This isn't a reset, it's a surrender.'
This is about getting the best for Britain
By Nick Thomas-Symonds
Our trade agreements with India and the US boosted business, unlocked investment and saved British jobs. They show that – through these tough times – the decisions this Government has taken has made the UK a country people want to do business with.
A third agreement in as many weeks is within our grasp on Monday. Why do we need this? Put simply, our post-Brexit Tory trade deal with the EU isn't working.
Labour is determined to deliver. For British families, who face not only higher energy bills but longer queues on holiday, and whose safety is compromised by a lack of cooperation with neighbouring countries. For supermarkets, whose lorries are left waiting up to 16 hours for lengthy inspections, while the food inside them goes off. For the farmers, who face endless red tape just to export to our nearest and biggest trading partner.
Businesses that drive the economy often find themselves paralysed by the current rules. On Friday, business leaders called for practical steps forward as the current agreement is 'not fit for purpose'. If our big retailers are feeling the pinch, then many of our smaller businesses have been delivered a knockout punch.
It is our right as an independent, sovereign nation to chase down the benefits of free trade. It is our duty to working people to make sure that it delivers for them.
But trade is not the only thing on the table at the UK-EU Summit. We will fill the gaps left by the Tory deal, which had nothing in it to tackle illegal migration and weakened our ability to tackle organised crime. It's right we control our borders with measures to make our streets safer, cut migration and tackle international gangs.
And instead of being at the mercy of Vladimir Putin, more control and stability within our energy supplies could secure lower bills into the future.
We'll cover the absence of security and defence cooperation, something the Tories failed to take seriously and refused to negotiate.
We aren't interested in rehashing old ideologies or fights. The world has moved on.
When I'm walking down Blaenavon High Street – the town where I grew up – in the shadow of its historic industrial might, I know the people around me are interested in what this Labour Government delivers for them on Monday. How do we ease their cost of living, how do we make their streets safer?
That is who I've had in mind when working towards this agreement. That's why we've negotiated hard to get a package that is in their interest, and in the national interest.
Under Keir Starmer's leadership, we have been guided by cool heads and pragmatism – this Government prefers striking agreements over striking poses. Driven by the ambition to get nothing less than the best for the UK – and willing to step away if anything failed to meet our red lines.
The interests of British people have been our priority throughout these negotiations, but in an uncertain world standing side by side with the EU on solid foundations to tackle the challenges we face will benefit us all.
So on Monday, we have the chance to agree a strategic partnership with the EU that strengthens our borders, cuts our bills and boosts our jobs. Britain back on the world stage – and back in the service of working people.