“A top priority for them is maintaining the support of ‘Red Wall’ voters, many of whom voted for Brexit, and the party is concerned that any significant deepening of relations could be seen as somehow undoing Brexit.”
Ringing in the New Year
The nervous caution in London is being noticed in Brussels.
After leading a delegation to the U.K. last month and holding discussions with key players in Westminster, the chair of the European Parliament’s international trade committee Bernd Lange told his fellow MEPs: “There are some possibilities, but in my point of view, big change is not the horizon. There will be some practical improvements, but that’s it.”
Early bonhomie and good vibes between the EU and Starmer’s new government are also starting to be tested.
The European Commission this week announced it was taking the U.K. to the European Court of Justice over its implementation of free movement rules for EU nationals living in Britain — a politically provocative move which touches on two British sensitivities: the jurisdiction of the Luxembourg court and EU immigration.
European ministers discussing plans for talks with the U.K. at EU council in Brussels for the first time last week also told reporters they would set “clear boundaries” of their own in any negotiations. Meanwhile MEPs on the European Parliament’s delegation to the U.K. last week passed a motion warning that Starmer needed “concrete commitments” to avoid his EU reset becoming a “reset in name only.”
Thomas-Symonds and his EU counterpart Maroš Šefčovič have promised the New Year will bring a “new phase” of talks, with a “harder edge” and something to show in time for a planned EU-U.K. summit in the first half of 2025. But when negotiations do get going, expect them to take place with one eye on Farage.
Bloom and Ross reported from London.
