Starmer faces reality check over Europe relations reset

Sir Keir Starmer faced a reality check on his first trip to Brussels yesterday as he appeared to come away from the European capital with only an agreement to hold further meetings with EU leaders.

- ARCHIE MITCHELL

The prime minister travelled to Belgium for talks with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, as well as European Council chief Charles Michel and the European parliament’s Roberta Metsola, with a promise to “put the Brexit years behind us” and form a closer relationship with the bloc.

But speaking at a press conference following the discussions, Sir Keir revealed plans for further talks this autumn followed by a summit early next year while unable to answer journalists’ questions on how the “reset” agreement could look like.

Earlier, after what amounted to a meeting about a meeting, Sir Keir and Ms Von der Leyen promised in a joint statement to take forward an “agenda of strengthened cooperation at pace over the coming months”.

But in a sign that Sir Keir’s much-hyped reset of relations with the bloc is yet to get off the ground, the statement added that talks would start with “defining together the areas in which strengthened cooperation would be mutually beneficial”.

It marked a setback for those calling on the prime minister to ease his opposition to a youth mobility scheme with the EU – which would let young people live and work freely across the continent for a number of years.