𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Britain comes out of Sir Keir Starmer’s EU negotiations “weaker and poorer” amid his latest unpicking of Brexit, the Tories have warned.

The Prime Minister held reset talks with the European Commission’s president Ursula von der Leyen on Monday where they vowed to be “ambitious” ahead of the UK-EU summit this summer.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel MP said: “Labour promised not to drag Britain back into the EU’s orbit, yet Keir Starmer is once again signing Britain up to costly arrangements with European institutions — with taxpayers left to foot the bill. It is a clear breach of the Conservatives’ red lines on our sovereignty and independence. This follows a pattern under Labour.

“Every time Starmer walks into negotiations, Britain comes out weaker and poorer. British taxpayers are left footing the bill for Labour’s poor choices.”

It comes as Sir Keir has been warned the UK will have to make yearly payments of £1 billion into European budgets for the first time since Brexit to secure closer ties.

European Union negotiators insist the money is a prerequisite of greater access to its single market.

But UK ministers see the demand for cash as a starting position for talks.

Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice said: “Senior Labour figures have been setting the stage for a full-blown Brexit betrayal for months.

“Now Keir Starmer looks on track to pay the EU £1 billion a year in order to surrender our own sovereignty. Reform UK will repeal the payment and anything else agreed at these reset negotiations.”

But EU relations minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said he does not “recognise that figure” when he was asked about the reports.

Asked if that was right, he told BBC Radio 5 Live: “No, I’ve not come across, don’t recognise that figure.”

At the general election, Labour promised not to seek a customs union, to rejoin the single market or establish freedom of movement as part of closer ties with the bloc.

But the Prime Minister has spent weeks suggesting that he wanted to “go further” in moving Britain nearer to the EU single market as he cranked up his push to reverse Brexit.

In a joint statement after meeting at the European Political Community summit in Armenia, the Prime Minister and Ms Von der Leyen said they discussed “our joint commitment to improving the relationship between the UK and EU to deliver for consumers, businesses and collective European security”.

The pair added: “We looked ahead to the UK-EU summit and agreed on the importance of being ambitious in what we could achieve together for the benefit of both sides.”

Britain is also on the verge of joining the EU’s £78 billion loan scheme for Ukraine, as the government seeks to shore up support for Kyiv and deepen defence ties with the bloc.

The loan, recently approved by the EU after Viktor Orban’s defeat in Hungarian elections ended a long-running impasse, is set to cover two-thirds of Ukraine’s needs for the next two years.

Most of it is earmarked for military ⁠spending, officials said.

Sir Keir said the benefit of joining the loan for Ukraine “outweighs the cost” as he argued the continent must “move at pace” to bolster its own defence.

The Prime Minister used the trip to continue his push for a tighter relationship with the bloc on security, the economy and to make the case for his reset with Brussels to UK voters ahead of local elections on Thursday.

The Daily Express Give Us A Proper Brexit crusade has called for Britain to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, slash red tape for businesses and enforce a 12-mile exclusion zone around the UK for British vessels only.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch warned of a “toxic combination” of the EU reset and the rise of Ed Miliband risking the “accelerating deindustrialisation of Britain”.

The Energy Secretary is said to expect to be rewarded with a job as chancellor should Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham succeed Sir Keir as Labour leader.

She told how Labour wants to pull the UK back into the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, which would “hand control of key economic sectors and competitiveness back to Brussels”.

Mrs Badenoch said: “Britain is rapidly deindustrialising and things are getting worse under this Labour Government.

“Sky-high energy bills and an aggressively anti-business approach from the Treasury and Energy Department are making life unbearable for many of our energy-intensive industries. Britain lost a third of its refining capacity just last year.

“Now there’s the prospect of the chief deindustrialiser Ed Miliband entering No11, as well as even higher energy bills thanks to Starmer’s worst of both worlds approach to Brussels. This is a toxic combination for British industry.

“We have a plan to bring down energy bills for everyone – businesses and households. Our cheap power plan will get Britain drilling our own oil and gas, scrap the EU’s carbon taxes on business and take Miliband’s green levies off bills. This would be good for our energy security, our financial security and our national security.”