Starmer types EU ‘surrender squad’ to barter reversal of Brexit | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Keir Starmer has been accused of building a “surrender squad” of civil servants prepared at hand again powers to Brussels as a part of his EU renegotiation.

A workforce of over 100 civil servants has been introduced collectively to move the renegotiation, which critics have warned will see the Prime Minister unpick Brexit and tie Britain nearer to the EU.

The new workforce might be housed inside the omnipotent Cabinet Office, and headed by a £200,000-a-year mandarin reporting to Europe minister Nick Thomas-Symonds.

A supply instructed the Mail on Sunday: “The officials are being drawn from every government department, and they have been told that they will have full powers to demand whatever they need from any corner of Whitehall to make the reset work.”

While Sir Keir insists he has deserted his needs to scrap Brexit and reverse the 2016 referendum consequence, many consider he desires to quietly take the nation again and give up key freedoms.

Former Brexit negotiator Lord Frost stated the PM’s need to rejoin the EU “has been blown by the fact they can’t hide the creation of this Surrender Squad in the Cabinet Office.”

He added: “This huge unit is getting ready for a major renegotiation – it will have more people than I had for the original deal with the EU in 2020.

“Everyone in this Government really wants to rejoin the EU one day. Only public opinion is stopping them. So they are trying to act in secrecy and conceal their plans to align with EU rules, to bring back EU law and to give away our fishing grounds, by calling all this just a “reset”.

“Unless we will cease them, the reset will finish with this nation as soon as once more within the EU’s orbit, step by step shedding our skill to set our personal guidelines and make our personal legal guidelines. It’s time for many who assist our nationwide independence and democracy to get up.”

Kemi Badenoch, the Tory chief, additionally blasted Sir Keir for “taking us backwards”.

She fumed: “In every negotiation – from trade union pay deals to the Chagos islands – Keir Starmer has given away everything for nothing in return.

“The question now is what price we all pay for the Prime Minister to take us back to his EU comfort zone?”

Sir Keir will meet with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and different EU leaders in February, his first assembly between a PM and all EU members since Brexit.

The European Union is pushing arduous for Britain to enroll to a youth mobility scheme, which might basically reintroduce the hated freedom of motion guidelines for anybody underneath the age of 30.

Leaked papers counsel the EU continues to be pushing for the settlement, regardless of Sir Keir insisting he’s not focused on becoming a member of the scheme.

A senior EU diplomat additionally stated Ms Von der Leyen will use February summit to press the UK on the difficulty.

Further leaked papers this week confirmed that Brussels will demand the UK to just accept its courts, and guarantee no discount in fishing quotas for EU vessels in alternate for renegotiating the phrases of Britain’s exit.

A Cabinet Office supply stated: “The team includes members of the Windsor Framework task force, which was established to try to fix the huge holes left in Lord Frost’s botched deal when it came to Northern Ireland.”

They rejected Lord Frost’s declare that Sir Keir desires to rejoin the EU as “fully unfaithful”.