Brexiteers have sounded the alarm as the UK and the EU prepare to strike a historic deal
Sir Keir Starmer has made ‘resetting’ relations with the EU a priority (Image: Getty Images)
Britain risks shredding the benefits of Brexit if talks starting with the European Union next week lock the UK back in Brussels’ orbit, the Government has been warned. Labour ministers and the EU will seek to strike deals on food standards and carbon trading, with Brexiteers warning the UK is in danger of giving away “competitive advantages” and could be forced to make multi-billion pound payments to EU funds.
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice said: “The whole point of Brexit was to embrace competition, strike our own trade deals, and make decisions based solely on what is best for Britain. Further aligning with the EU only ties us to foreign interests and undermines our independence.
“Any agreement must ensure we retain our competitive advantages and that we do not pay into the EU coffers. Not that we have any confidence in this Labour government, packed with Remainers, to ever distance itself from the orbit of Brussels.”
Shadow Business and Trade Secretary Andrew Griffith said the “last thing the UK economy needs is to shackle itself back into Brussels red tape”. He fears the UK will end up paying “billions more in taxpayers’ money” to Brussels.
He said: “Keir Starmer hates Brexit and that’s why he’s intent on taking us closer to the EU.”
John Longworth, a former director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, who chairs the Independent Business Network, warned: “The EU will always rinse us for money because the politics of desperation put us in a weak position. Our leaders need to wise up and use Brexit freedom to put Britain first, cut EU red tape, trade with the world outside the sinking ship of Brussels bureaucracy and boost technology.”
Meanwhile, trade expert Shanker Singham warned it is “folly for the UK to prioritise the relatively small gains from eliminating trade friction over the much larger gains of improving one’s own regulatory framework”.
Cautioning against “sacrificing the full effect of an independent trade policy and regulatory reform for very small trade friction gains,” he said: “The result will be to further compound the stagflation the UK is now flirting with.”
Nick Thomas-Symonds is the UK’s minister for EU relations (Image: Getty)
However, Nick Thomas-Symonds, Britain’s minister for European Union relations, welcomed the start of official talks.
He said: “This is welcome progress – we can now start formal talks on deals that will help keep food costs down and slash red tape. We are delivering on the commitments made to British businesses and the public at the historic UK-EU summit in May.
“These agreements will add nearly £9billion to the UK economy, supporting British jobs and putting more money in people’s pockets.”
The Government claims a “sanitary and phytosanitary” agreement could boost the economy by up to £5.1billion a year by increasing agricultural exports to the EU by 16%.
It says a parallel agreement so British businesses do not have to pay the EU’s carbon border tax could add up to £3.8 billion a year to the economy.
