Keir Starmer accused of dragging UK closer to EU with new Germany treaty: ‘What’s the point of Brexit?’
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of bringing the UK closer to the EU once again, as the Labour leader is set to sign a new treaty with Germany.
Starmer is visiting Berlin where he will meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to discuss the deal, branded a “key pillar of the UK’s wider reset with Europe” by No10.
The deal will be signed within six months and will cover vital areas for increased collaboration such as market access, clean energy and trade across the North Sea.
Speaking to GB News, Political Editor Christopher Hope said the announcement will make “Tory Brexiteers spit out their cornflakes” and spark concern for Britain rejoining the EU in the future.
Christopher explained: “The idea here is to take two to six months to work out a treaty with Germany. He wants this to be a model of other deals with other EU countries as we go forward under this Labour Government.
“The PM thinks privately that it’s not reversing Brexit, that we’ve been trading with our friends and neighbours on the continent for hundreds of years, and here’s a case of strengthening those bonds.”
Offering his verdict on Starmer’s approach to the deal, Christopher told GB News that he appears as a figure that people “can do business with”, and the Prime Minister wants this agreement to “set the benchmark” for other deals over the next five years.
Christopher said: “There will be concern that this is going to tie us closer and closer to the European Union to make some wonder, well, what’s the point of Brexit after all?
“But he clearly sees this deal with Germany as one to set the benchmark for other similar deals that I fully expect the UK to try and sign as we go forward through this five-year period. It will shake up the whole idea of what Brexit is for us as we go forward.”
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Union boss sets out Budget demands to Starmer as warning issued over plansStarmer wants to ‘turn a corner on Brexit’ as he agrees new treaty with GermanyMatt Goodwin lashes out at Starmer’s glaring omission in ‘gloomy’ speech: ‘He looks lost’
When asked by host Patrick Christys if the treaty would be voted on in Parliament, Christopher confirmed that it would, but treaties of this kind are “not normally controversial”.
Christopher added: “It may well be that we don’t see any detail of what’s being agreed until it’s presented as a fait accompli to Parliament, and that could really stir the hornet’s nest amongst Brexiteers.
“Sir Keir Starmer has always said we are not going into the single market or the customs union. Those are two things are sacrosanct.”
Detailing the relationship between Starmer and Chancellor Scholz, Christopher claimed that the pair “get on very well” and shared a “warm embrace” at the most recent Nato Summit.
Christopher told GB News: “He knows all Olaf Schultz very well. I was there when they met for the last time on the margins of the Nato summit in Washington DC, a very warm embrace.
“But the idea of sovereignty, Starmer would say, isn’t being touched by these agreements because we still remain outside of the single market and customs union.
“But by tying ourselves to the EU, to Germany, the biggest economy in Germany in certain areas, some will say this is reversing Brexit in all but name.”