Fears grow that the Prime Minister will trade away Brexit freedoms at talks with Brussels
Seven things the UK could be forced to sacrifice to secure a closer deal with the EU
Fears continue to mount that Andy Burnham will sell off Britain’s hard-won Brexit freedoms as he tries to reset the country’s relationship with the EU. The Prime Minister is due to meet eurocrats next month at a delayed summit intended to progress talks between Westminster and Brussels.
It comes months after Mr Burnham refused to answer questions about his ever-changing position on whether the UK should rejoin the EU. Last year, he told members of the Labour Party that he wanted to see the country shackled back to Brussels “in my lifetime”.
(Image: Daily Express)
Yet he wound down the claim during the Makerfield by-election, telling voters in the 65% Leave-backing seat that it was not on the ballot paper. He would go on to announce that heading back into the bloc was on the table during his speech to the Labour Party Conference.
The Express has long campaigned to leave the EU, and triggered its Give Us A Proper Brexit crusade to demand that Westminster does not seek to reverse the largest democratic vote in British history.
Now the Daily Express brings you six things Britain’s Remainer PM could concede to Brussels as part of his talks.
British taxpayers funding EU projects
Leaders of European countries have already said they would be keen on the UK heading back to the bloc, with one even suggesting they wanted British taxpayers’ cash.
That revelation came after Czech PM Andrej Babis told the media he wanted London forking over cash to Brussels.
When asked if he wanted to see the country undo the 2016 referendum, he replied: “Yes of course. We need more money.”
Before it left the EU, the UK was paying billions of pounds to be a member of the trading bloc, and would likely need to hand over cash again as part of any new agreement.
(Image: Getty)
Farmers facing more foreign competition
Europhiles have long wanted British farmers to be held to the same rules as Europeans, but many farmers here disagree.
Imposing new food regulations on the UK farming sector would likely come with a hefty price tag, harming a sector already suffering from higher taxes and the loathed family farm tax.
The Daily Express has long been campaigning to bring an end to that charge, which dragged Britain’s family farms into inheritance tax for the first time in history.
(Image: Getty)
Signing up to the euro
A very unlikely scenario is that Europeans could demand that the UK end the use of its own currency. The UK previously refused to sign up to the euro, but Leave supporters have long worried that a future government could abandon that stance.
It is, however, considered extremely unlikely that Europeans would make such a demand, or that Westminster would accept it.
(Image: Getty)
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Further loss of control at the border
Currently, the UK sets its own rules on who can come here to live and work, but Brussels has made clear it wants a youth mobility deal as part of any closer relationship.
The scheme under discussion would allow 18 to 30-year-olds from the UK and EU to spend a limited period living, studying and working in each other’s countries. Critics fear it would become free movement through the back door, with no sponsorship or salary thresholds required.
Brussels is also pushing for more. The EU wants EU students at UK universities to pay home fees rather than higher international rates, which would leave British taxpayers subsidising European students.
The talks were due to be wrapped up at a summit in July, but Sir Keir Starmer announced his resignation on June 22 and a UK-EU summit pencilled in for July 22 was postponed. A Burnham premiership has been reported as likely to maintain, and possibly hasten, the closer relationship with Brussels.
Ministers insist the scheme is not free movement and would be capped and time-limited.
(Image: Getty)
Conscription age limit for men as UK told ‘prepare for war’
If World War 3 breaks out, men of these ages could be forced to join the UK’s army and fight in Europe.
Pat McFadden discusses prospect of conscription in 2025
Preparation for WW3 worst-case scenarios could be stepped up after the head of the army called on the UK’s political leaders to start a ‘frank conversation’ with the public about preparing for war.
General Sir Roly Walker told Sky News that ‘every’ citizen will be ‘asked to make sacrifices’ and play their part in the defence of the country.
It comes in the wake of escalation between Russia and Ukraine as the US, unthinkably, appears to be siding with Russia. US President Trump has in the past week urged Ukraine to ‘get a new leader’ after signing a deal with Russia for diesel supplies, and has increasingly blamed the global price of diesel on Ukraine’s refusal to surrender to Putin, rather than the US’ war with Iran.
It’s not something anyone wants to think about, but as tensions escalate around the world, there is a possibility that World War 3 could erupt. Just this past summer, the UK government last year told people to prepare for war on British soil, and is urging better preparedness for conflict across society.
British people could be forced to join the army if WW3 breaks out (Image: Getty)
Assuming tensions continue to ramp up and a new global conflict were to erupt, there are some indicators about what would happen if the UK went to war and needed to introduce conscription, or mandatory military service, whether in a WW3 situation or not.
In WW2, conscription began for men aged between 20 and 22 in 1939, up to six months before the war actually broke out.
The UK Parliament website says: “During the spring of 1939, the deteriorating international situation forced the British government under Neville Chamberlain to consider preparations for a possible war against Nazi Germany. Plans for limited conscription applying to single men aged between 20 and 22 were given parliamentary approval in the Military Training Act in May 1939. This required men to undertake six months’ military training, and some 240,000 registered for service.”
But when war was declared, the age range was immediately widened to any man aged 18 to 41.
It continues: “On the day Britain declared war on Germany, 3 September 1939, Parliament immediately passed a more wide-reaching measure. The National Service (Armed Forces) Act imposed conscription on all males aged between 18 and 41 who had to register for service.”
The only men who weren’t called up were those who were too unfit medically, or who worked in vital industries like baking, farming, and medicine, which were vital to the war effort.
It adds: “Those medically unfit were exempted, as were others in key industries and jobs such as baking, farming, medicine, and engineering.”
By the end of 1941, women and ‘all childless widows’ between the ages of 20 and 30 were called up, while men aged up to 51 were called up for military service. Even those aged 52 to 60 were required to take part in “some form of military service.”
In 2024, Grant Shapps, who at the time was Defence Secretary, said that we are “moving from a post-war to a pre-war world”, and General Sir Patrick Sanders, Britain’s most senior army officer, called for an increase in the size of the army and said that the country needed to increase preparedness for conflict.
It isn’t clear what would happen to those refusing to serve in a potential WW3 scenario, but in WW2, British ‘conscientious objectors’ were put on trial, with some given mandatory jobs to contribute to the war effort in other ways instead.