Meddling Keir Starmer meets Brussels chiefs to stir pot ahead of Theresa May's speech
SHADOW Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer says Brussels will ignore most of Theresa May’s pledges in her speech tomorrow as she is a lame duck whose Bexit bargaining power has been weakened since the election.
Keir Starmer: Labour would negotiate 'shared future' with Brussels
The Labour MP said European Union bosses told him they have “high expectations” for the Prime Minister’s Brexit speech in Florence tomorrow.
But many, including Michel Barnier, Europe’s chief Brexit negotiator, and Jean Claude Juncker’s influential chief of staff Martin Selmayr, fear she has no real power because she is facing dissent within her own party.
On the topic of Foreign Secretary Boris Jonhson’s meddling in Brexit, in which he published his own vision for a “glorious Brexit”, Mr Starmer said: “I’m not sure what Boris said is taken that seriously.”
The Prime Minister faced calls to sack Mr Johnson for opening Government divisions over Brexit, in a bid to show a united front.
However, Mr Starmer said he had heard the leaders’ reservations during meetings in Brussels this week.
He told The Guardian: “They want to see real progress, and they want follow through. Not a speech and nothing else.
“They were very struck by what she said at [the party] conference last year and they are very conscious that she is making a speech on Friday and she is making another speech in two weeks [at Conservative party conference].
“They will take some convincing that Friday is enough if there is not consistency. If it is a position it has got to be a real position.”
For the EU bosses, the main topic of interest is Britain’s divorce bill. Mrs May is reportedly set to offer the EU €20billion for a post Brexit budget short fall.
Mr Starmer said: “They want progress, and they are concerned about methodology [on the financial settlement] ... There is clearly cause for concern about the rate of progress in Brussels just as there is in the UK. And the ball is very much in the prime minister’s court.”
He added Labour was not set to put forward a figure the Government should pay, adding “the UK should honour its international obligations.
He said: “At the moment there is no clarity on the approach the UK is going to take. A methodology is needed and it is needed essentially by next week.”
Mrs May tried to unite her fractious Cabinet behind her plan to reboot faltering Brexit negotiations Thursday, as a senior European Union official suggested British hopes of moving the divorce talks on to a new phase next month might be dashed.
She gathered ministers to reveal details of her speech on Friday.
She has chosen the city, one of the historic hearts of Europe, as the location for an address that the government says will stress Britain's desire for a close and special relationship with the bloc.