Boris Johnson has become the latest leading Brexiteer to voice his anger about Sir Keir Starmer's "total sell out" deal with the EU and warned the UK risks becoming the "gimp of Brussels".
The former Prime Minister, who was one of the main architects of the Vote Leave campaign in 2016, set out the five major problems with Starmer's agreement.
Speaking to the GB News, Johnson warned Starmer's deal makes Britain a rule-taking, fishermen-sacrificing, alignment-bound vassal state, adding Labour was opening the door to a borders "sell out" while contributing to Brussels' pots.
Johnson told the People's Channel: "I think it's a complete and deliberate betrayal of Brexit and it goes against what the Prime Minister said he was going to do at the election in 2024.
Boris Johnson
GB NEWS
"He said he wouldn't go back on Brexit, on the freedoms that the British people won in that referendum, he's done the absolute reverse. He's decided to make to make this country a rule-taker."
In a swipe at Starmer, Johnson added: "Worst of all, he's decided we can pay for all this. We can pay for the privilege of once again being ruled, in many ways, by Brussels.
"We're going to be coughing up to the EU budgets. It's absolutely absurd. It goes against what he said. He's turning this country once again into the orange ball chewing, leather-truss gimp of Brussels."
Starmer, who described his EU reset agreement as a "win-win", sparked fury after it was announced European trawlermen would be handed unchanged access to Britain's fishing waters until 2038.
Despite British fishermen often raging about being let down by Johnson, the former Prime Minister argued: "From January next year, every halibut, every cod, every mackerel, was going to revert completely to UK control.
"The disaster is that Starmer, the Labour Prime Minister, has thrown away that advantage of absolutely nothing in return."
Sir Keir Starmer unveiled his new deal at Lancaster House
GETTY
Johnson also warned: "The UK is being tied closer and closer to the European Single Market, unable to deviate, unable to do things differently, which we've got to do in a competitive, global economy, because of the risk of diverging from Northern Ireland. That's totally wrong. The UK should be able to do exactly what it needs to do."
The ex-Prime Minister went on to dismiss concerns about public mood turning against Brexit, despite opinion polls now suggesting Britons regret the UK's departure from the European Union.
He said: "I love the public with all my heart but I care about the issue. I don't want to see our country become the punk of Brussels, I don't want to see our country become a non-voting member of the EU, I don't want to see our country returning to unfettered free movement of 80 million people eligible to come from the European Union, I don't want to see us have to accept rules when we have no say.
"I think it's anti-democratic and I don't think this agreement should be signed. The next Conservative Government, and God pray it's a Conservative Government, should get rid of this thing lock, stock and barrel."
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has already vowed to rip up Starmer's "amateur" agreement, warning that Labour's pivot towards Brussels risks putting the UK "back at square one".
Boris Johnson also defended his own fishing agreement
GB NEWS
Meanwhile, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claimed Starmer's "sell out" could spell "the end" of Britain's fishing industry.
Despite being blasted by Brexiteers, Starmer hailed his agreement while speaking alongside Ursula von der Leyen at Lancaster House.
He said: "It’s time to look forward. To move on from the stale old debates and political fights to find common sense, practical solutions which get the best for the British people.
“We’re ready to work with partners if it means we can improve people’s lives here at home.
“So that’s what this deal is all about – facing out into the world once again, in the great tradition of this nation.
“Building the relationships we choose, with the partners we choose, and closing deals in the national interest. Because that is what independent, sovereign nations do.”
Fishing has become a real sticking point of Keir Starmer's deal
GETTY
Other main points of Starmer's Brexit reset include eGate access for British passport holders in Europe, reduced health certificates to make it easier for pets to travel to Europe and the removal of red tape from most food and drink imports and exports.
The arrangement also saves UK steel £25million per year, bringing a sigh of relief to workers in Scunthorpe.
The UK can even join the EU's £150billion defence fund but critics point out the opportunity to access the new Security and Defence Partnership is not set in stone and could spark difficult conversations in Brussels.
Despite recent tough talk on migration, the Prime Minister's agreement also provides little concrete changes at the moment.
The UK-EU deal merely promises that London and Brussels will continue to work together to find solutions on returns and a joint commitment to tackle the Channel crossings crisis.
Further discussions will also take place around legal migration, with a Youth Mobility scheme in the pipeline to enable young Britons and Europeans to work and travel freely.
Despite clarifying the eventual scheme will come with a cap, eyebrows were raised after the Prime Minister refused to reveal the annual limit on EU arrivals.
