Keir Starmer’s efforts to reset the UK’s relationship with the EU lack “direction, definition and momentum”, parliament’s foreign affairs committee has said.
A report based on months of expert testimony found that the UK-EU summit at Lancaster House last May had “substantially improved the overall political relationship” after years of attacks on Brussels by the Conservatives.
But it concluded that the UK “lacks clear strategic priorities”, which in turn results in “the appearance that the EU has made more concrete progress than the UK towards its most urgent demands”.
Emily Thornberry, Labor MP and committee chair, said: “Sadly, we found that despite progress in some areas, the government restart is languishing, suffering from a lack of direction, definition and momentum. “It feels like we are on a journey with no clear destination.
“In many areas, the government has not provided timetables, milestones or priorities, and does not appear to have an ambitious, strategic vision for the UK’s new relationship with the EU.”
The report says that unless the government provides a structure and a clear vision with objectives, it will repeat “these mistakes” when it enters the second set of negotiations after a second bilateral summit in early July.
Last May’s summit was hailed as a “historic” moment and resulted in a formal agreement to improve the Brexit deal sealed by Boris Johnson’s government, with goals including a youth mobility scheme, rejoining the Erasmus student program and an agricultural deal to reduce barriers for food exporters.
So far all that has been announced is an agreement on Erasmus, with several key areas including chemicals regulation, compliance with standards, mutual recognition of professional qualifications and concessions for touring musicians who are not at the negotiating table.
The report says progress “has not been helped by the recent change of targets by the EU in demanding a financial contribution to the economic development of the EU’s low-income countries, a request that was not mentioned at last year’s summit.”
He also criticized what he described as the “exorbitant” €2bn (£1.7bn) price tag for the UK’s participation in the first round of the EU’s new €150bn Security Action for Europe (Safe) defense procurement initiative.
The report welcomed the UK-EU security and defense partnership but urged both sides and individual member states to “go further and faster”.
The UK is understood to be in talks over a deal on a potential second fund to help Ukraine with military equipment and with budget issues such as salaries for teachers, doctors and other civil servants.
The €90 billion fund is based on loans obtained through the EU’s AAA credit rating, which Russia would repay in the form of reparations or frozen assets.
The UK is reportedly willing to contribute several hundred million pounds to help pay interest on the loan in exchange for arms contracts for British companies.
The committee’s report also criticizes the deliberate “secrecy” surrounding the talks and calls on the government to set out its plans for the next phase in a white paper.
“Despite the setbacks, the government must keep up the pressure. Fortune favors the bold and showing ambition now will reap rewards later,” he said.
The report, From Common Understanding to Common Ground: Building a UK-EU Strategic Partnership Fit for the Future, was published on Wednesday.
