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Keir Starmer’s efforts to reset the UK’s relationship with the EU are lacking in “direction, definition and drive”, parliament’s foreign affairs committee has said.
A report based on months of expert witness testimony found the summit between the UK and the EU at Lancaster House last May had “substantially improved the overall political relationship” after years of Brussels-bashing by the Conservatives.
But it concluded the UK “lacks clear strategic priorities”, which in turn results in “the appearance that the EU has achieved more concrete progress towards their most pressing demands than the UK”.
Emily Thornberry, Labour MP and chair of the committee, said: “Sadly, we found that despite progress in some areas, the government’s reset is languishing, suffering from a lack of direction, definition and drive. It feels as though we are on a journey with no clear destination.
“In many areas, the government has failed to provide timelines, milestones or priorities, and it does not appear to have an ambitious, strategic vision for the UK’s new relationship with the EU.”
The report said that unless the government provides a structure and clear vision with goals, it will repeat “these mistakes” when it enters the second set of negotiations after a second bilateral summit due to be held in early July.
Last May’s summit was hailed as a “historic” moment and resulted in a formal agreement to improve the Brexit deal sealed by Boris Johnson’s government, with goals including a youth mobility scheme, rejoining the Erasmus student programme and an agriculture agreement to reduce barriers for food exporters.
So far all that has been announced is a deal on Erasmus, with several key areas including the regulation of chemicals, conformity of standards, mutual recognition of professional qualifications and concessions for touring musicians not on the negotiating table.
The report said progress “has not been helped by the EU changing the goalposts recently by demanding a financial contribution to the economic development of lower-income EU countries, a request not mentioned at last year’s summit”.
It also criticised what it described as the “exorbitant” €2bn (£1.7bn) price tag on the UK’s participation in the first round of the EU’s new €150bn Security Action for Europe (Safe) defence procurement initiative.
The report welcomed the UK-EU security and defence partnership but urged both sides and individual member states “to go further and faster”.
It is understood the UK is in talks over a deal on a second potential fund to help Ukraine with military equipment and with budgetary matters such as salaries for teachers, doctors and other public servants.
The €90bn fund is based on loans raised via the EU’s AAA credit rating, which would be repaid by Russia in the form of reparations or frozen assets.
The UK is reportedly prepared to contribute several hundred million pounds to help pay the interest on the loan in exchange for arms contracts for British firms.
The committee’s report also criticises the deliberate “secrecy” surrounding talks and urges the government to lay out its plans for the next phase in a white paper.
“Despite setbacks, the government must keep pushing. Fortune favours the bold and showing ambition now will reap rewards later,” it said.
The report, From a Common Understanding to Common Ground: Building a UK-EU Strategic Partnership Fit for the Future, was published on Wednesday.
