Boris Johnson has accused Sir Keir Starmer of deceiving Britons that Brexit is secure amid reports the Labour Government has set up a « surrender squad » charged with hauling the UK back into the EU’s orbit.
The former prime minister accused Sir Keir of telling voters « bare-faced lies » at the General Election in July when the Labour leader vowed there would be no going back on Brexit.
Sir Keir pledged the UK under Labour would not return to the single market, customs union or free movement for EU nationals.
Mr Johnson, writing for his Mail column, suggested Brits may have been mad to believe Sir Keir, but they still gave the benefit 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 attack came after the Mail on Sunday reported there is a large team inside the Cabinet Office charged with negotiating Starmer’s « reset » with the EU. They have been dubbed Sir Keir’s « surrender squad ».
Talks are due to start in February, with The Times reporting on Saturday that a blueprint document of Brussels’ demands includes access to UK waters for EU fishermen, the effective dismantling of Britain’s marine protections policy and a youth mobility scheme for European Union nationals.
The document also says Britain will have to agree all new EU laws on food and agriculture would be dragged onto the UK’s statute books and for Britain to submit to ECJ rulings over EU law.
Mr Johnson argues, however, that forfeiting control over agriculture would mean losing much of London’s freedom to pursue « good » free trade deals.
He then pointed to France and Germany’s shrinking economies and the rise of the far-right as proof the EU isn’t 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 set up the Whitehall « surrender squad » or for the talks, any more than he had a mandate for tax rises announced in the Budget.
Mr Johnson accused the PM of lying about both and Labour of taking power 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 is resetting its relationship with the EU and wants to strengthen cooperation to make people safer and tackle barriers to trade as well as to help drive economic growth.
A Government spokesman said there will be no return to the customs union, single market or freedom of movement, adding the Government will always work to protect the interests of our fishers.
A Cabinet Office source told the Mail the negotiating team includes members of the Windsor Framework taskforce, which was established to try to fix the « huge holes » left in former Brexit minister Lord Frost’s « botched deal » when it came to Northern Ireland. They added an assertion from Lord Frost that Labour wanted to rejoin the EU was « completely untrue ».
Source link
