Nigel Farage’s immigration plans will spark an EU commerce battle ‘worse than Trump tariffs’, warns minister | EUROtoday

Reform UK’s insurance policies would spark a commerce battle with the EU that will have far worse penalties than Donald Trump’s tariffs, a senior minister has claimed.

European affairs minister Nick Thomas-Symonds, who’s chargeable for negotiating the Brexit reset for Sir Keir Starmer’s authorities, has dismissed Reform chief Nigel Farage as “not a serious candidate for prime minister”.

He warned that Reform’s plans to tear up the settled standing deal for EU residents would spark a commerce battle even earlier than the social gathering tried to tug out of another offers.

Mr Thomas-Symonds spoke to The Independent forward of an important 48 hours for the UK’s renegotiation with the EU, with a gathering of the UK/EU parliamentary meeting set to happen on Monday, and chancellor Rachel Reeves attributable to define the federal government’s imaginative and prescient on Tuesday within the City of London’s Mais Lecture.

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Ms Reeves is about to ship an identical warning about Reform’s immigration insurance policies, which might see non-British residents lose welfare funds, tearing up the settled standing deal for EU residents that was negotiated earlier than the UK left the bloc in 2020.

Mr Thomas-Symonds instructed The Independent: “If you think Boris Johnson left us with a bad deal, think about what Nigel Farage would do in power. We know that the emissions trading system and the food and drink agreement together are worth up to £9bn a year to the economy by 2040, and he’s already said he would take that away.”

Highlighting Reform UK’s draconian immigration plans, which the social gathering unveiled final month at a press convention in Dover, Mr Thomas-Symonds stated: “Farage is also talking about taking all welfare support away from EU settled citizens. Frankly, with that, we probably would end up with us in some sort of trade war with the EU. That really isn’t what we need.”

He added: “Think, as well, of the progress we’ve been making recently, working constructively with the EU on the ‘Made in Europe’ agenda, to try to make sure there’s no additional trade barriers being erected. Nigel Farage would put all that at risk.”

Asked if a commerce battle can be “worse than Trump’s tariffs”, Mr Thomas-Symonds warned: “It would, because trade with the EU is so much bigger, about £800bn worth of trade a year. What does that mean? It means risking prices in the shops going up. It means putting jobs at risk. These are not things that are in our national interest; that’s not a serious policy.”

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Reform responded to his claims by accusing Labour of “scaremongering”. A spokesperson stated: “Reform UK believes the welfare system should support those who have paid into it, not act as an open-ended entitlement. The idea that putting British taxpayers first would somehow spark a trade war with the EU is ridiculous.”

Reform’s enterprise and commerce spokesperson, deputy chief Richard Tice, additionally hit again at Mr Thomas-Symonds. At a press convention in Westminster, he stated: “Why would you want to handcuff yourself ever closer to any failing economic model? It’s the last thing in the world we should be doing. So, of course, we’ll look at everything in the round.

“Why should we pay anybody to come to our country and then pay them benefits? In the nicest possible way, you’re lucky enough to come and live in this country, please do contribute, work, integrate, [learn] the lingo, fantastic. But we can’t afford to pay people to sit at home on their backsides if they come to the UK. It’s as simple as that.”

Mr Thomas-Symonds believes Brexit might be “an important dividing line” between Labour and its largest political rivals on the subsequent election, however has additionally warned pro-EU campaigners that the UK is not going to rejoin the bloc, and has dominated out agreeing any form of customs union with it in his reset talks.

But he argued that the “ruthless pragmatism” of the Starmer authorities is the place the general public is on the problem, although a BMG ballot on 4 March recommended that public help for rejoining the EU was at 45 per cent, with 37 per cent in opposition to.

He stated: “I’m talking to people up and down the country on a weekly basis, and there is support for the closer relationship that we have already built and are building, but no appetite to reopen the debates of the past.”

He added: “We are the ones who will be delivering for the British public, delivering on living standards, delivering on jobs, delivering on law enforcement and immigration. And I very much welcome the debate at the next election, if the Conservatives and Reform want to take all that away.”