Boris Johnson says Starmer is taking us ‘for fools’ over EU ‘reset’ plans | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Boris Johnson has accused Sir Keir Starmer of deceiving Britons that Brexit is safe amid reviews the Labour Government has arrange a “surrender squad” charged with hauling the UK again into the EU’s orbit.

The former prime minister accused Sir Keir of telling voters “bare-faced lies” on the General Election in July when the Labour chief vowed there can be no going again on Brexit.

Sir Keir pledged the UK below Labour wouldn’t return to the one market, customs union or free motion for EU nationals.

Mr Johnson, writing for his Mail column, prompt Brits could have been mad to consider Sir Keir, however they nonetheless gave the advantage of the doubt.

He added: “Millions of people went to the polls honestly believing that Brexit was safe under Labour. It is clear that Starmer was taking them for fools.”

The assault got here after the Mail on Sunday reported there’s a giant crew contained in the Cabinet Office charged with negotiating Starmer’s “reset” with the EU. They have been dubbed Sir Keir’s “surrender squad”.

Talks are because of begin in February, with The Times reporting on Saturday {that a} blueprint doc of Brussels’ calls for consists of entry to UK waters for EU fishermen, the efficient dismantling of Britain’s marine protections coverage and a youth mobility scheme for European Union nationals.

The doc additionally says Britain should agree all new EU legal guidelines on meals and agriculture can be dragged onto the UK’s statute books and for Britain to undergo ECJ rulings over EU legislation.

Mr Johnson argues, nevertheless, that forfeiting management over agriculture would imply dropping a lot of London’s freedom to pursue “good” free commerce offers.

He then pointed to France and Germany’s shrinking economies and the rise of the far-right as proof the EU is not working, asking: “What the hell is Starmer actually trying to achieve, in lashing this economy closer to the EU, at the very moment when the EU model is so manifestly failing?”

The former prime minister concluded that “above all” Sir Keir has no mandate to arrange the Whitehall “surrender squad” or for the talks, any greater than he had a mandate for tax rises introduced within the Budget.

Mr Johnson accused the PM of mendacity about each and Labour of taking energy by deception. He added: “We must of course respect the law and the constitution. But I call on everyone who cares about democracy – and the economic salvation of this country – to fight, fight, and fight again for the freedoms the people voted for in 2016, and which they believed were secure.”

The Government has insisted it’s resetting its relationship with the EU and needs to strengthen cooperation to make folks safer and deal with obstacles to commerce in addition to to assist drive financial development.

A Government spokesman mentioned there will probably be no return to the customs union, single market or freedom of motion, including the Government will all the time work to guard the pursuits of our fishers.

A Cabinet Office supply informed the Mail the negotiating crew consists of members of the Windsor Framework taskforce, which was established to attempt to repair the “huge holes” left in former Brexit minister Lord Frost’s “botched deal” when it got here to Northern Ireland. They added an assertion from Lord Frost that Labour wished to rejoin the EU was “completely untrue”.