Sir Keir Starmer has held 11th hour talks with Ursula von der Leyen and Emmanuel Macron in a last-ditch scramble to avert a crisis facing his Brexit reset deal.
The prime minister was due to talk to the European Commission and French presidents separately on the fringes of the European Political Community (EPC) summit in Albania amid fears that a deal for securing closer ties to the EU could be derailed.
Major differences emerged between the UK and EU just days before the reset deal is meant to be unveiled at a summit in London on Monday.
Ahead of the discussions on Friday, Sir Keir emphasised that Monday’s talks are an “important opportunity” for the UK, as chancellor Rachel Reeves said any deal would not be a “one off” but a “step towards” closer partnership with Europe in further areas.
The prime minister told reporters outside the European Political Community summit in Tirana: “In the last two weeks you’ve seen the UK do a trade deal with India, really important for our country and our national interest, a trade deal with the US, again really important for our country and our national interest.
“I’m positive going into Monday and I think that this is an important moment for our country that will be measured in the benefits to working people and their living standards.”
But EU member states are understood to be demanding that EU students can pay lower British tuition fee rates for universities which could cost the UK an estimated £1bn.
Mr Macron is also leading a charge for demands that EU fishermen can fish in British waters as part of a deal to allow trade barriers to be removed.
Added to that, there are criticisms that there is the lack of ambition in a proposed youth mobility scheme for 18 to 30-year-olds, with claims the UK cap on the number of people who could come here are too low for the liking of EU member states.
The youth mobility scheme was reported by The Independent on Wednesday to be a key part of Sir Keir’s reset plans, with a senior government source saying the strategy “driven” by the PM would anger “the two extremities” of the Brexit debate but “most will see it as a good deal”.
In an interview on Friday, the chancellor insisted that the government would stick to its “red lines” but suggested that an agreement on Monday could herald deeper cooperation with the EU.
“We think that because of the trust we built, we can get a better deal. The European Union have understood from the beginning those red lines,” Ms Reeves told The Guardian.
“I am ambitious for our future. This isn’t a one-off. There will be things that we achieve, some concrete outcomes on Monday, but there will also be a step towards where we want to go next between our countries.
“And I see that as a journey, not that what happens on Monday is the end; there will be future areas where we can do more.”
With Tory leader Kemi Badenoch expressing concern about the nature of the talks, claiming that “whenever Labour negotiates Britain loses”, a UK government spokesperson insisted that Sir Keir would “negotiate in the national interest”.
She said: “No final agreement has been made. We are not providing a running commentary on our discussions with the EU; these are ongoing and cover a wide range of issues.
“We have been clear that we will always act in the national interest to secure the best outcomes for the UK.”
The last-minute row in the talks has echoes of the late hitches in trying to agree a withdrawal agreement after the EU referendum in 2016, before the UK finally left in 2020.
But it threatens to derail Sir Keir’s hopes for “a superb deal” which senior sources in the government told The Independent was close to being signed off.
While the deal is also expected to bring closer defence cooperation, a key part will be around aligning the UK to EU regulations to remove many of the trade barriers and costly red tape currently plaguing businesses.
The reset deal has been touted as the third piece in a major shift on UK trade following deals this month with India and the US. They are seen as essential to Sir Keir’s plans for economic growth, and the prime minister has the Gulf states as his next target for a major agreement to unleash billions in investment.
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