18-05-2025
Keir Starmer's EU ‘reset' is shaping up to be a capitulation
SIR – You urge Sir Keir Starmer not to 'surrender to Brussels' in his European Union 'reset' (Leading Article, May 17). You also observe that Britain's negotiating position at the Lancaster House talks is stronger than the Prime Minister appears to appreciate.
You are right: our favourable geographic location – remote from Russia – and possession of Europe's best armed forces suggest that the EU needs us more than we need it.
Predictably, the EU has been trying at the last minute to demand unreasonable concessions before agreeing a defence and trade reset that will benefit all parties. EU demands for long-term access to British fishing waters and jurisdiction in Britain of the European Court of Justice are precisely the sort of affronts to our sovereignty that must be rejected.
Sir Keir should – but probably will not – respect Brexit's four clear red lines: no customs union membership, no single market membership, no freedom of movement and no new power for the ECJ. British companies must not become EU rule-takers. In addition, we should demand a reset of Irish trade arrangements.
The EU has ignored multiple experts who made clear that digital border controls obviate any need for a hard Irish border, whether on land or at sea, where one now exists. This otiose border was created as a Brexit punishment on the basis of confected EU concerns about effective trade controls.
Gregory Shenkman
London SW7
SIR – As Eurovision demonstrated on Saturday, not even our musical taste is compatible with the EU.
Sir Keir Starmer should bear this incompatibility in mind during his efforts to cosy up to the bloc. He should also be wary of the ramifications of surreptitiously reversing the Brexit referendum result. There is absolutely no mandate for this, especially given the relatively low vote share that his party received in the general election last year.
John Kellie
Pyrford, Surrey
SIR – Has it occurred to Sir Keir Starmer that his attempt to reset Britain's relationship with the EU might prompt Donald Trump to reset America's relationship with Britain, thus jeopardising all the good, hard-won things that have been achieved recently?
Simon McIlroy
Croydon, Surrey
SIR – Camilla Tominey writes that 'Starmer is not to be trusted with Brexit' (Comment, May 17).
I would like to know what benefits have lit up our lives over the past nine years as a result of that paper-thin-majority vote to leave the European Union.
John Tavner
Dedham, Essex
