Labour has surrendered Britain’s precious fishing grounds for 12 years in exchange for access to an EU defence fund that has delivered “not a penny”, it has been claimed.
The betrayal comes as reports reveal the EU defence fund would block the UK from accessing cutting-edge American military technology, raising alarm about national security.
James Cartlidge, Conservative Shadow Defence Secretary, has blasted Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to try again to negotiate access to the fund.
Speaking to the Daily Express, Mr Cartlidge said: “Labour have already surrendered our fish to access the EU defence fund without a penny in return.”
He accused Sir Keir of a staggering betrayal of Brexit.
Mr Cartlidge added: “Instead of begging the EU to join, Starmer should follow our lead of creating a 100% British Sovereign Defence Fund, switching Ed Miliband’s net zero billions to back UK defence companies.”
Fishing grounds surrendered for 12 years (Image: Getty)
Last May, Labour handed away Britain’s fishing grounds to Brussels in exchange for access to the EU Defence Fund.
Speaking at the time, Mr Cartlidge warned that Sir Keir had got a “glorified talking shop” in exchange for “not a penny of guaranteed defence funding”.
The UK has received nothing in return for the fishing grounds, yet Sir Keir is now attempting to negotiate access again.
The Security Action For Europe scheme, or Safe, was set up by Brussels after Russia invaded Ukraine to provide low-interest loans to boost European military capability.
But Brussels is demanding Britain pays £2billion to join, while forcing UK defence firms to source key technology and parts from Europe rather than America.
The “non-divergence agreement” designed to reduce “foreign dependency” would see Britain cede control of defence decisions to Brussels.
Starmer is ‘begging the EU’ to join (Image: Getty)
Defence experts have warned the conditions would be “utterly deadly for our national security” by blocking access to advanced US military equipment.
The Shadow Defence Secretary called for a “100% British Sovereign Defence Fund” instead of crawling back to Brussels.
The Daily Express is campaigning for a Proper Brexit, demanding a 12-mile exclusion zone around the UK where foreign vessels cannot fish.
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Brexit minister Nick Thomas-Symonds told MPs last week: “On participation in Safe… I always said throughout the negotiation that I would only sign up to things that involved value for money. I did not take the view that in this case, it did offer value for money.”
