Newslinks for Tuesday 20th May 2025

UK-EU Reset 1) Starmer trying to ‘kiss goodbye to Brexit’

“Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of trying to drag Britain back into the European Union under his “reset” deal with Brussels. The Prime Minister unveiled the agreement in London on Monday, insisting it was a “win-win” for Britain that would deliver a £9 billion boost to the economy. Flanked by the presidents of the European Commission and the European Council, he said the pact showed that the UK was “back on the world stage”. But critics seized on clauses in the deal which give European fishermen access to the UK’s coastal waters until 2038 and allow Brussels to impose sanctions on British exports if any future government decides to rewrite the deal. The agreement will also force Britain to follow EU rules on food standards and submit to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.” – Daily Telegraph

• Starmer hails ‘win-win’ EU deal despite fishing climbdown – The Times
• Fishing puts the dampeners on Starmer’s EU reset deal – The Times
• UK and EU agree post-Brexit reset deal – FT
• How the UK and EU thrashed out deal – FT
• Deal puts Britain back on world stage, Starmer claims – The Guardian
• Johnson brands Starmer the ‘orange ball-chewing gimp of Brussels’ – Daily Mail
• All the times Starmer showed his true colours on the EU – Daily Telegraph
• Starmer’s surrender: Sir Keir accused of Brexit betrayal as he caves in over fishing rights – Daily Mail
• Starmer ‘done up like a kipper’ – The Sun
• EU still suffering ‘wounds of Brexit’, says bloc’s foreign affairs chief – Sky News
• UK now best placed country on trade – Reeves – BBC News

Comment

• New deal with Europe mustn’t stifle UK tech – William Hague, The Times
• No reset would be better than this damaging deal – Gerard Lyons, Daily Telegraph
• Starmer succumbs to the EU hook, line and sinker – Tim Stanley, Daily Telegraph
• Labour is handing back control to the EU – Editorial, Daily Telegraph
• This was the day the Brexit dream died – Editorial, Daily Mail
• The rush to throw in our lot with Brussels is unfathomable – Andrew Neil, Daily Mail
• Far from taking control back from the EU, Starmer has meekly handed it back – Editorial, The Sun
• Starmer has made Britain the EU’s gimp – Dan Hannan, The Sun
• Starmer is a mediocre middle manager – Editorial, Daily Express

UK-EU Reset 2) Badenoch: Starmer’s Brexit betrayal is a national humiliation

“Nearly ten years ago the British people voted to leave the European Union. That vote was the biggest democratic mandate in our nation’s history – a clear instruction to take back control of our borders, our laws, and our future. It was a demand for sovereignty, a belief that, freed from Brussels, Britain could shape its own destiny. And yet, under Keir Starmer’s Labour Government, we are not moving forward. We are being dragged back. Quietly, shamefully, and deliberately. Starmer has reopened the old wounds of Brexit. Not to heal them, but to surrender ground we had already won. What he calls pragmatism is really capitulation. What he claims is progress is actually a step backwards.” – Daily Telegraph

UK-EU Reset 3) Frost: This deal is far worse than even I feared. Tories must now start unravelling it

“I wrote on Saturday about the sorry history leading to Monday’s summit meeting with the EU. Well, now we have Starmer’s deal, and it’s even worse than I thought. As usual, the EU played hardball. While the British entry to Eurovision was sinking fast on Saturday night, so too was Starmer’s reset balloon, and the British team started chucking most of their negotiating ballast over the side in a desperate effort to keep it afloat. We’ll certainly remember this Monday. So what the hell just happened?” – Daily Telegraph

Putin will get a big trade deal if he ends the war, Trump suggests

“Donald Trump appeared to offer Russia “large-scale trade” if it ended the war with Ukraine, during a two-hour phone call with Vladimir Putin. The US president spoke to the Russian leader for the first time in a month on Monday, saying their conversation was “excellent” and that peace talks with Ukraine would begin immediately. “Russia wants to do large-scale TRADE with the United States when this catastrophic ‘bloodbath’ is over, and I agree,” he wrote, using his trademark mix of capital letters. Mr Trump has found the Russian president resistant to his appeals for a peace deal so far, and his officials had signalled growing frustration at Moscow’s intransigence.” – Daily Telegraph

• President has abandoned his own peace plan – Daily Telegraph
• Kremlin refuses Ukraine ceasefire – The Guardian
• Putin says he is ‘ready to work’ with Ukraine, but gives no ground – The Times
• Inside Trump’s ‘candid’ two-hour call with Putin – The Sun
• Trump: Someone is not ‘telling the facts’ about Biden’s cancer diagnosis – Daily Telegraph

Comment

>Yesterday:

Starmer tells MPs ‘Farage is main opponent’ at anxious private meeting

“Keir Starmer has told his MPs he will fight Nigel Farage “as Labour” at an anxious private meeting where the prime minister faced criticism from his party on migration, welfare and the government’s strategy. One MP called for Starmer to sack the speechwriter who used the phrase “island of strangers” in last week’s migration speech. Two others said they felt the speech had departed from Labour values. Starmer said that Labour had a “moral responsibility to make sure Farage never wins” and the party would be bolder about its achievements, especially on jobs and the cost of living. “The Conservatives are not our principal opponent. Reform are our main rivals for power,” he told MPs.” – The Guardian

• Shock poll shows Reform storming ahead on 29% as Tories drop to fourth – Daily Express

>Today:

>Yesterday:

Reeves backs down on plans to cut Isa limit

“Rachel Reeves has backed down on plans to reduce the tax-free Isa savings allowance, as she bowed to mounting pressure from the City. The Chancellor has confirmed that she will not change the £20,000 annual limit on Isas, in a move that will benefit millions of savers. The reversal comes just days after The Telegraph revealed banks’ opposition to the proposed overhaul, which included plans to slash the £20,000 allowance to as low as £4,000 in an attempt to boost the stock market and kickstart growth. Speaking to the BBC on Monday, Ms Reeves said: “I’m not going to reduce the limit of what people can put into an Isa, but I do want people to get better returns on their savings, whether that’s in a pension or in their day-to-day savings.” – Daily Telegraph

Comment

Clegg: Lib Dems should accept a coalition government again

“The Liberal Democrats must be prepared to enter another coalition government, Sir Nick Clegg will say tomorrow, even if that means the party loses political support like it did in 2015. In his first major intervention since leaving frontline British politics to work for Meta, Clegg will say it is his “enduring hope” that his former party secures a return to power. He will urge his successor, Sir Ed Davey, to use the party’s new-found “political capital” by going into government in the event of a hung parliament at the next election. Clegg’s comments, in a speech to the Institute for Government marking the 15th anniversary of the coalition agreement in 2010, are likely to annoy Davey, who studiously avoided questions about potential coalitions during last year’s election campaign.” – The Times

Labour to ban transgender women from all-female shortlists

“Labour will ban transgender women from all-women shortlists after the Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of a woman, The Times has learnt. The party’s ruling body will vote on Tuesday on measures to scrap rules that allowed its positive action schemes to be operated on the basis of self-identification, as Britain’s equality regulator is expected to say lavatories, changing rooms and shelters should be run on the basis of biological sex.” – The Times

• Labour may cancel women’s conference over trans ruling chaos – Daily Telegraph

Other political news

• Netanyahu hits back after UK, France and Canada threaten action – The Guardian
• Labour triggers biggest private school exodus in more than a decade – Daily Telegraph
• New law to proscribe hostile state-linked groups – The Times
• Benefit cuts: Keir Starmer ready to face down rebel Labour MPs – The Times
• 40,000 criminals to be tagged in sentencing law overhaul – The Times
• Plans for 12 new towns to cost up to £48bn, report says – FT

News in Brief