Boris Johnson fiercely opposes Keir Starmer's EU agreement. Photo / Getty Images
Boris Johnson has lambasted British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as the “orange ball-chewing manacled gimp of Brussels” over his EU reset deal.
Branding the agreement an “appalling sell-out”, the former Prime Minister said it was “hopelessly one-sided” and “sacrificed UK fishing interests”.
He compared the deal – which gives European fishermen access to British waters for another 12 years – to the “surrenderism” of his pact with Mauritius to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos islands.
Labour MPs have also spoken out against the deal, with one describing it as a “gift for Reform” for giving too much away on fishing.
Starmer insisted the agreement was a “win-win” for Britain during its launch in London on Monday, at a press conference alongside, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, and Antonio Costa, the president of the European Council.
But critics point to the fact that it gives European fishermen access to the UK’s coastal waters – due to end next year – until June 2038.
And it allows Brussels to introduce punitive measures on British exports if any future government decides to restrict this access.
The deal also means that Britain will agree to EU regulations on agricultural produce and submit to the judgment of the European Court of Justice in case of disputes.
The UK will also have to pay undisclosed sums to the European Union to join various schemes.
In a lengthy post on X, formerly Twitter, Johnson claimed this effectively meant “two-tier Keir” had agreed to make Britain a “non-voting member of a two-tier European Union”.
“Under this appalling sell-out of a deal, the UK will have to accept EU law on a host of measures from food standards to emissions trading,” he said.
“We will have to accept whatever changes the EU decides to make to those laws.
“We will have to accept the rulings of the European Court of Justice in the definition and enforcement of those laws. We will therefore lose our freedom to innovate in areas such as gene editing and much more besides.”
Johnson said the UK would have no say in making the regulations – making Britain the “non-voting punk of the EU Commission”.
“Two-tier Keir is the orange ball-chewing manacled gimp of Brussels,” he wrote.
“He has sacrificed UK fishing interests, handing over our seas to be plundered again – when under the current Brexit agreement we are on the point of taking back full legal control, next year, of every fish in our waters.
“He is clearly bent on signing up to a deal on free movement which could give 80 million younger EU nationals the right to come to this country…
“Most bizarrely of all he has agreed that Britain will once again be paying countless millions of pounds into EU coffers – for the privilege of becoming the non-voting punk of the EU Commission!”
He said that in return, Britain had only received “wishy-washy” promises to get rid of “vexatious and unnecessary bureaucracy” affecting travellers.
These include what Starmer had trumpeted as a deal to allow UK passport holders to use EU airport e-gates – but it later emerged the agreement had not yet been signed off by member states.
Johnson said there were “no real guarantees that this will be enforced”.
And he compared it to Theresa May’s 2018 Chequers deal to leave the EU, which prompted Johnson to quit as Foreign Secretary.
“This deal is hopelessly one-sided,” he wrote. “It combines the vassalage of Chequers with the surrenderism of Chagos.
“Starmer promised at the election that he would not go back on Brexit. He has broken that promise as he broke his promise on tax.
“This deal should not be signed, should not be ratified and should never come into force and if it is the next Conservative government should kick it out forthwith.”
A number of Labour MPs have criticised Starmer over the agreement, saying it could harm their chances at the next election in Brexit-voting areas.
Graham Stringer, the MP for Blackley and Middleton South, told the sell-out: “I would have had more confidence in the negotiations if they hadn’t been dominated by ministers who spent time and effort trying to overturn the original referendum decision by campaigning for a second referendum.
“I think far too much has been given away on fishing and I have no confidence we will ever get it back.
“It has destroyed one of the main reasons many people voted to leave the EU. It is a gift for Reform.”
“This deal will mean Britain becoming a rule taker, accepting dynamic alignment, giving up fishing rights, and paying new money to the EU,” she said.
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, called the agreement “a total sell-out,”, and warned it could spell the end of the UK’s fishing industry.
He added: “It is wholly unnecessary and will finish off the industry.
“The Prime Minister thinks he’ll get away with it, but he perhaps underestimates how strong Brexit feeling still is in the Red Wall.
“The whole thing is an abject surrender from Starmer and politically, something he will come to regret.”
The Liberal Democrats were the only opposition party to defend the deal.
Daisy Cooper MP, Treasury spokesman, said: “This agreement marks a first step towards addressing the damage done by the Conservatives.
“But with more ambition, the economic benefits of today’s deal could have been up to 10 times greater, even within the Government’s existing red lines.
“The Government has got to show far more ambition if we are to truly unlock the benefits of a renewed relationship with our European partners for communities across the UK.”