{"id":736003,"date":"2026-02-01T21:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T21:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/736003\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T21:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T21:39:16","slug":"starmer-attacks-farage-over-botched-brexit-as-he-signals-talks-on-eu-defence-pact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/736003\/","title":{"rendered":"Starmer attacks Farage over \u2018botched\u2019 Brexit as he signals talks on EU defence pact"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sir Keir Starmer<\/a> has challenged Nigel Farage<\/a>\u2019s past Brexit promises, dismissing them as unfulfilled and urging people not to heed the Reform leader\u2019s ideas on the UK\u2019s ties with Europe.<\/p>\n

The Labour leader\u2019s remarks came as he outlined his party\u2019s ambition for closer cooperation with Europe, particularly on defence and trade.<\/p>\n

Responding to questions about whether his stance was an attempt to roll back Brexit and create a dividing line with Mr Farage, Sir Keir said: \u201cAs far as Nigel Farage is concerned, let us remind ourselves that he said if we left the EU it would be \u00a3350 million a week for the NHS<\/a> \u2013 that didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said if we left the EU there would be less red tape for trading into Europe<\/a> \u2013 try telling that to any business that is trading into Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said if we left the EU regular migration would go down \u2013 it quadrupled under the Boris wave. So I wouldn\u2019t listen too much to what Nigel Farage has to say about this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Keir described the previous government\u2019s Brexit deal as \u201cbotched\u201d and highlighted Labour\u2019s efforts to negotiate new arrangements, including on food and agriculture<\/a>, which he said \u201clead to lower prices in our supermarkets\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Sir<\/p>\n

Sir Keir Starmer was questioned about the UK\u2019s ties to Europe during a trip to China (AP)<\/p>\n

The Labour leader has also indicated a desire for closer collaboration with Europe on defence, coinciding with upcoming trade talks between the EU and UK.<\/p>\n

The latest meeting of the EU-UK Partnership Council is scheduled for the coming week, where Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds will discuss ongoing efforts to forge closer ties with the bloc.<\/p>\n

Sir Keir was also questioned about the possibility of Britain joining the European Union\u2019s new \u20ac150 billion (\u00a3130 billion) Security Action for Europe (Safe) rearmament fund.<\/p>\n

Reports suggest that talks about Britain\u2019s participation broke down in late 2025, with the entry price deemed too high. France was reportedly responsible for insisting on the cost, although officials there have denied this.<\/p>\n

While the upcoming talks will not include Safe, Sir Keir was asked if he saw a case for joining the initiative if the price was right and it served the national interest.<\/p>\n

He told reporters: \u201cEurope, including the UK, needs to do more on security and defence. That\u2019s an argument I\u2019ve been making for many months now with European leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to step up and do more. It\u2019s not only President Donald Trump who thinks Europe needs to do more but other presidents as well. I think the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI do think on spend, capability and co-operation we need to do more together. I\u2019ve made the argument and that should require us to look at schemes like Safe and others to see whether there is a way in which we can work more closely together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s Safe or other initiatives, it makes good sense for Europe in the widest sense of the word \u2013 which is the EU, plus other European countries \u2013 to work more closely together. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve been advocating and I hope to make some progress on that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir Keir Starmer has challenged Nigel Farage\u2019s past Brexit promises, dismissing them as unfulfilled and urging people not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[802,2000,299,5187,807,384,50069,24533],"class_list":["post-736003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-brexit","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-keir-starmer","tag-nigel-farage","tag-sir-keir","tag-trade-talks"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115997544597580299","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}