Keir Starmer has been accused of establishing a “surrender squad” of civil servants ready to hand back powers to Brussels as part of his EU renegotiation.
A team of over 100 civil servants has been brought together to head the renegotiation, which critics have warned will see the Prime Minister unpick Brexit and tie Britain closer to the EU.
The new team will be housed within the all-powerful Cabinet Office, and headed by a £200,000-a-year mandarin reporting to Europe minister Nick Thomas-Symonds.
A source told the Mail on Sunday: “The officials are being drawn from every government department, and they have been told that they will have full powers to demand whatever they need from any corner of Whitehall to make the reset work.”
While Sir Keir insists he has abandoned his desires to scrap Brexit and reverse the 2016 referendum result, many believe he wants to quietly take the country back and surrender key freedoms.
Former Brexit negotiator Lord Frost said the PM’s desire to rejoin the EU “has been blown by the fact they can’t hide the creation of this Surrender Squad in the Cabinet Office.”
He added: “This huge unit is getting ready for a major renegotiation – it will have more people than I had for the original deal with the EU in 2020.
“Everyone in this Government really wants to rejoin the EU one day. Only public opinion is stopping them. So they are trying to act in secrecy and conceal their plans to align with EU rules, to bring back EU law and to give away our fishing grounds, by calling all this just a “reset”.
“Unless we can stop them, the reset will end with this country once again in the EU’s orbit, gradually losing our ability to set our own rules and make our own laws. It’s time for those who support our national independence and democracy to wake up.”
Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, also blasted Sir Keir for “taking us backwards”.
She fumed: “In every negotiation – from trade union pay deals to the Chagos islands – Keir Starmer has given away everything for nothing in return.
“The question now is what price we all pay for the Prime Minister to take us back to his EU comfort zone?”
Sir Keir will meet with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and other EU leaders in February, his first meeting between a PM and all EU members since Brexit.
The European Union is pushing hard for Britain to sign up to a youth mobility scheme, which would essentially reintroduce the hated freedom of movement rules for anyone under the age of 30.
Leaked papers suggest the EU is still pushing for the agreement, despite Sir Keir insisting he is not interested in joining the scheme.
A senior EU diplomat also said Ms Von der Leyen will use February summit to press the UK on the issue.
Further leaked papers this week showed that Brussels will demand the UK to accept its courts, and ensure no reduction in fishing quotas for EU vessels in exchange for renegotiating the terms of Britain’s exit.
A Cabinet Office source said: “The team includes members of the Windsor Framework task force, which was established to try to fix the huge holes left in Lord Frost’s botched deal when it came to Northern Ireland.”
They rejected Lord Frost’s claim that Sir Keir wants to rejoin the EU as “completely untrue”.
