May 18, 2025
The Labour government is unlikely to secure any significant improvements to the UK's relationship with the EU until it stops pandering to populist right-wing politicians and reverses Brexit, the Rejoin EU Party says.
Despite the struggling economy and Labour's disastrous performance in this month's local elections, Keir Starmer inexplicably continues to reject single market (SM) and customs union (CU) membership and free movement and has enraged many in his own party with talk of immigration potentially turning Britain into an “island of strangers.”
Rejoin EU understands the EU is unlikely in Monday's UK-EU summit to make major compromises on matters such as immigration, trade, defence and the environment unless Labour shows more flexibility in negotiations and distances itself from anti-immigrant, pro-Trump rhetoric peddled by the likes of Reform UK.
Reports say talks have faltered because the UK isn't compromising enough on fishing rights, student fees and a proposed British cap on under-40s living and working in the UK and Europe under a time-limited youth mobility scheme. One report said any new deal was likely to be “thin” and “limited” due to the UK's so-called 'red lines' on SM and CU membership.
The Rejoin EU Party says the EU's lack of appetite to engage with the UK while Labour continues to mimic Reform by blaming immigration for the nation's problems, rather than trying to address the underlying causes such as Brexit, is understandable.
Former MEP and Rejoin EU Party supporter John Stevens said: “Reports of last-minute barriers to Starmer’s 'reset' of relations with the EU should come as no surprise. Many of our erstwhile EU partners have seen the rise of Reform in recent elections and concluded there's little point in
trying to accommodate UK interests as there could well be a Nigel Farage-led government in London within four years.Rejoin EU Party leader Brendan Donnelly, also a former MEP, said: “Starmer was always going to struggle in these negotiations, given the unnecessary restrictions he imposed on himself from the start. He's not helping himself by now singing the same old tunes as Farage has been singing for decades. Brussels follows British politics and adjusts its negotiating tactics accordingly.”