Starmer told UK must hand over £1bn a year for closer ties to EU

Sir Keir Starmer will meet with president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen on Monday.

Keir Starmer with French President Emmanuel Macron

Keir Starmer with French President Emmanuel Macron (Image: Getty)

Brussels has demanded that Sir Keir Starmer make yearly payments into European budgets for the first time since Brexit as part of the Prime Minister’s EU reset. The UK, which will be expected to amount to about £1 billion a year, is understood to be a condition of further access to the bloc’s single market.

A European diplomat said: “If the UK wants further integration they must ‘pay to play’. That is not unusual.” The Government said it did not recognise the reporting in The Times, with a spokesman saying: “We won’t comment on ongoing negotiations.”

Sir Keir will on Monday hold talks with EU leaders at the European Political Community summit in Armenia, where he is expected to discuss plans for the reset.

Under plans to be unveiled in the King’s Speech, which have been criticised by the Tories and Reform UK, the Government will seek legislation to follow EU single market rules without necessarily giving MPs a vote on each piece of red tape.

Ministers are carrying out an audit of which sectors could most benefit from further integration. Chemicals, pharmaceuticals and cars are seen as a priority.

But one senior European diplomat said that Brussels would not allow the UK to “cherry pick” and would insist on a Swiss-style deal that would tie it into contributing to annual EU budgets to reduce economic, social and territorial disparities across the bloc.

Writing in a Sunday newspaper, Sir Keir said: “It [Brexit] has damaged our economy and there’s no doubt in my mind where the national interest lies. Britain must be at the heart of a stronger Europe on defence, on security, on energy, and on our economy.”

Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel said the payments would be “taxpayers’ money handed to European institutions, with no end date and no democratic mandate”.

She added: “At every turn, this prime minister goes to the negotiating table and comes home empty-handed, having paid handsomely for the privilege.”

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Starmer told UK must hand over £1bn a year for closer ties to EU

Sir Keir Starmer will meet with president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen on Monday.

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