REVEALED: EU scheme to drag Starmer back into bloc WITHOUT referendum
The EU is gearing up to rope Keir Starmer into their plans for outer tier EU countries
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The EU is gearing up to rope Keir Starmer into their plans for outer tier EU countries which are integrated with the bloc, allowing Labour to bypass a second Brexit referendum.
France and Germany are thought to have drafted plans for "associate membership" for certain countries, including the United Kingdom.
The plans are said to be aimed at a Labour Government and would not require the UK to undertake another EU referendum, as it would stop short of full membership.
French President Emmanuel Macron, with whom Starmer met today, is a keen supporter of the proposal.
The Labour Leader said he wants a closer trading relationship with the bloc,
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The EU hopes to enact the plans by 2030.
A European diplomatic source told the Times: "It is carefully balanced politically to be a potential place for Britain without the need to ever rejoin the EU or to hold a referendum."
While the plans for associate membership do not go as far as a customs union, they do include legal integration.
Under the proposals, the UK would have speaking rights among the councils of ministers discussion the bloc's legislation, but it would not have a vote.
Associate membership would also not frant them MEPs or a European Commissioner that represents them.
This week, Starmer revealed that he plans to renegotiate the UK's deal with the EU in 2025, in order to strike up a new relationship with the bloc.
The Labour Leader said he wants a closer trading relationship with the bloc, dismissing the 2020 deal struck by Boris Johnson as "not a good deal".
The Leader of the Opposition, who is nearly 20 points ahead of the Conservative Party in the polls, told the Financial Times: "I do think we can have a closer trading relationship as well. That’s subject to further discussion."
Speaking about the current deal, he added: "I think there’s more that can be achieved across the board."
Starmer continued: "Almost everyone recognises the deal Johnson struck is not a good deal — it’s far too thin.
"As we go into 2025 we will attempt to get a much better deal for the UK."
Jacob Rees-Mogg told GB News that Starmer's planned renegotiation of Brexit would be the equivalent of a second referendum on Brexit but this time, done "by stealth".
He explained: "As a man who has always been a starry-eyed europhile, who of course was a champion of the second referendum. Why do you champion a second referendum? Because you believe the voters got it wrong the first time and need to be given a second choice. Now he wants to do it by stealth.
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"Because renegotiation leads to dynamic alignment. Essentially, we would shadow the EU without becoming a member. So we would be like Norway - a rule taker without the democratic accountability that we now have for our laws by being an independent nation-state. So it would restore the democratic deficit."
Meanwhile, a Conservative Party insider told GB News that Labour would happily "creep back to EU", even if it meant heading back into the Euro.
Roderick Abbott, a retired trade negotiator who spent 30 years at the European Commission, said the UK would have to "do the whole thing or nothing", when it comes to securing deals with the EU single market, implying that the UK would have to rejoin the Euro.