Keir Starmer’s attempts to seal a controversial ‘Brexit reset’ are set to go to the wire amid attempts by France to move the goalposts yet again. 

The Prime Minister said today he is ‘positive’ he can get an agreement aligning the UK more closely with Brussels ahead of a major summit in London on Monday, a move that has enraged Brexiteers.

But his hopes for agreements on defence co-operation and access for UK firms, and simpler food exports, have run into yet more brinkmanship by France and the Commission itself.

Emmanuel Macron, who is already demanding extended fishing rights in UK waters for French boats in exchange for UK firm accessing to a £150billion defence pact, is now reported to be demanding that access is minimised.

At the same time, Brussels has moved the goalpost on plans for free movement for  the under 30s to work and study in Britain, insisting EU students are charged the same tuition fees as UK students, rather than higher fees billed to foreign ones. 

UK negotiators have snubbed the demand, pointing out that many British universities are reliant financially on higher international fee rates.

It raises fresh questions about what the deal will look like and whether it is good for the UK. 

Asked about the defence deal at the European Political Community summit in Tirana, the bloc’s high representative for foreign affairs, Kaja Kallas said: ‘We are working on it, but we’re not there yet.’

The Prime Minister said today he is 'positive' he can get an agreement aligning the UK more closely with Brussels ahead of a major summit in London on Monday, a move that has enraged Brexiteers.

The Prime Minister said today he is ‘positive’ he can get an agreement aligning the UK more closely with Brussels ahead of a major summit in London on Monday, a move that has enraged Brexiteers.

But his hopes for agreements on defence co-operation and access for UK firms, and simpler food exports, have run into yet more brinkmanship by France and the Commission itself.

But his hopes for agreements on defence co-operation and access for UK firms, and simpler food exports, have run into yet more brinkmanship by France and the Commission itself.

Asked about the defence deal at the European Political Community summit in Tirana, the bloc's high representative for foreign affairs, Kaja Kallas said: 'We are working on it, but we're not there yet.'

Asked about the defence deal at the European Political Community summit in Tirana, the bloc’s high representative for foreign affairs, Kaja Kallas said: ‘We are working on it, but we’re not there yet.’

At the same event Sir Keir said Monday’s summit was an ‘important opportunity’ for the UK.

‘In the last two weeks you’ve seen the UK do a trade deal with India, really important for our country and our national interest, a trade deal with the US, again really important for our country and our national interest,’ he said.

‘I’m positive going into Monday and I think that this is an important moment for our country that will be measured in the benefits to working people and their living standards.’

The EU is offering to ease visa restrictions on UK musician that came in after Brexit as part of the deal.

Britain, for its part is also demanding free movement for pets accompanying holidaymakers on the continent. 

A government source told the paper that the PM is ‘confident’ of getting a deal at a summit he is hosting in London on Monday. 

Officials in Brussels believe the Prime Minister has surrendered more than he needed to in talks – but the bloc is still asking for more.

One EU source said Brussels negotiators had been willing to ‘play ball’ if Sir Keir had asked for a looser trading relationship, known as ‘mutual recognition’.

But the PM has instead promised to shackle Britain much closer to the EU’s rulebook on food standards by ‘dynamically aligning’ with Brussels, potentially hampering the ability to do further or deeper trade deals with other countries such as the US.

The source said: ‘The [European] Commission would have probably played ball on much less alignment than Starmer has ultimately accepted. 

‘That came as a surprise to some. He’s gone more New Zealand than Switzerland [in terms of closeness of the relationship].’

The London summit on Monday has been dubbed the ‘surrender summit’ by critics as it will bring Britain into the closest alignment it has had with the bloc since Brexit.

A new defence and security pact is expected to be the main announcement, with declarations about future relations expected in other areas such as fishing rights, closer trading ties, a youth mobility scheme and energy market co-operation.

Labour heavyweight Ed Balls attacked Sir Keir’s proposed deal over the youth mobility scheme. 

Speaking on his Political Currency podcast, he said: ‘If [the Government] do that, that would be a big mistake.

‘I don’t think Keir Starmer can afford to have a tough message on immigration one week and then… they won’t do that.’

Under the proposed scheme, 18 to 30-year-olds would be offered visas to work, study or travel in each others’ countries.

Sir Keir’s proposed deal will also anger Brexiteers in a number of other areas. He has offered to ‘dynamically align’ Britain to the bloc’s rulebook on food standards so that border checks on agricultural and other animal products are reduced.

However, this means European judges will have the final say in any UK-EU trading disputes involving British-made goods.

The PM has also offered to extend current fishing rights for EU trawlers in British waters by another four years in exchange for closer trading ties. Countries led by France want a longer extension.

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