Brussels Using “Dirty Trick” to Keep Britain Bound to the EU

Early details of Keir Starmer’s Brexit ‘reset’ deal with the European Union are bad enough—not least the effective return of free movement, which the ‘Leave’ vote was largely about, under a so-called ‘youth mobility scheme.’

Now, to make matters worse, Brussels is demanding that any such deal feature a termination clause forcing any future British government to pay significant financial compensation if they quit.

EU diplomats, quoted in the Financial Times, have dubbed this stipulation a “Farage clause,” acknowledging that Reform leader Nigel Farage would no doubt pull Britain out of a ‘reset’ deal were he to ever gain power.

One official told the paper that this “safety provision” would include the costs of setting up “the infrastructure and equipment, initial recruitment and training, in order to set up the necessary border controls.” The UK would likely also be expected to pay a fee to join any agreement.

Farage, whose party was today, Monday, joined by defecting ex-Conservative minister Nadhim Zahawi, said that “if Starmer signs this, it’s a democratic outrage.”

Not that it would matter either way, since he also stressed, “We will not honour any clause,” anyway.

The pro-Brexit Bruges Group think tank described the clause as a “direct challenge to the established convention that one parliament cannot bind its successors.”

It is a constitutionally improper dirty trick, designed to shackle Britain to the EU in perpetuity and the next government must be prepared to repudiate it.

And Jacob Reynolds, who is head of policy at MCC Brussels, lamented that Brussels establishment figures “don’t even hide how they plan to try and rule over the heads of our elected government.”