Owen Polley: ​For Keir Starmer's Labour government, the EU is the gift that keeps on taking

Unfortunately, in a style that has become too familiar during Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership, it turned out the government had not actually persuaded the EU to commit to anything, even though Britain gave plenty away.

The UK signed over 12 years of fishing rights in British waters to Brussels, for instance, but all we got in return was a vague ‘agreement to agree’ on several issues. In fact, the EU was soon laying down extra conditions, to fulfil its side of the bargain.

It even issued new demands to reach an understanding on security.

In this area, at least, Britain should have greater negotiating power than its continental rivals, thanks to a comparatively strong military.

In previous columns, I criticised the government’s weakness and asked why on earth, given previous experiences, Starmer would rely on Brussels’ goodwill, rather than ensuring, beyond doubt, that the EU made genuine concessions.

It’s worth having an update on how Labour’s wonderful new era of pan-European friendship is going. Spoiler alert – the latest developments are predictable and depressing.

Last week, for example, the EU added another requirement that it expects Britain to meet, to access one of its projects. This was not strictly part of the ‘reset’ agreement, but it is closely related.

The UK defence industry thought it would receive more access to Brussels’ new Security Action for Europe (SAFE) rearmament scheme, thanks to the deal.

This programme allows EU countries to get low cost loans, financed from Brussels’ budget, to make large defence purchases.

The UK is not currently eligible for these loans because of Brexit, but British firms can bid for a proportion of the work. And there was an expectation that, thanks to an agreement to enter into a new Security and Defence Partnership, this share would increase.

For context, the UK has the biggest, most important defence industry in Europe, which includes BAE systems, the continent’s largest defence company.

If our businesses are to be allowed to make more money from the scheme, though, the EU has now demanded that the government pay up to €6 billion per year. This fee is considered an ‘opening bid’, but it is typical of how the bloc works.

The UK voted to leave the EU, partly at least, to stop vast sums from being transferred to Brussels each year. These subventions, which often financed things that did not particularly benefit Britain, like large agriculture subsidies, became a major source of resentment.

It is not clear whether the EU really wants a warmer relationship with the UK, or if it is just trying to re-entangle our government in all sorts of obligations to Brussels. From the British perspective, though, we need not even bother to interpret its thinking.

Though it is much smaller than it used to be, the UK has, by continental Europe’s standards, a large and effective military.

The EU should be desperate to improve its security, by involving Britain in its defence and opening up SAFE for British companies. In fact, the government should have been able to use defence to force Brussels to take a more reasonable approach to other issues.

Instead, the prime minister seemed to assume that merely being friendly to the EU would persuade it to make concessions to Britain.

During the Brexit negotiations, Labour claimed, like other Europhiles, that the Conservatives’ aggressive approach destroyed any good faith we may have gained from Brussels, and resulted in bad deals.

You could understand, politically, why it made these arguments. But you would have expected its brighter minds to understand that, really, the Tories were usually much weaker with the EU than they liked to appear. Often, that was because the government’s negotiating position was undermined in the House of Commons.

Rather than getting this, Starmer seems to genuinely believe that Brussels will soften its demands, if he just adopts a less belligerent demeanour than Boris Johnson.

For anyone who was waiting for the proposed food and agriculture agreement with the EU to solve sea border problems, this is ominous.

Two weeks ago, the EU member states voted to suspend even those negotiations, until the UK agrees to pay more into the single market.

Previously, it stipulated that veterinary checks should be stepped up at Northern Irish ports, if a deal were to be reached.

Remember, Starmer already agreed to abide by the EU’s food and agriculture rules, to secure this supposed agreement that wasn’t actually an agreement.

It is difficult to predict what Brussels will ask for next, but you can be sure that, however much this Labour government gives, it will face demands for more.

It is important to remember that the deal the government is seeking would not solve the constitutional difficulties with the sea border, or make it easier for non-food or animal products to cross the Irish Sea.

It is an indictment of Labour, and a sign of how little the EU cares about the havoc it has caused here, that even this limited help cannot be secured, without humiliating Britain and shaking it down for everything Brussels can get.