Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg claimed Sir Keir Starmer was seeking to return the UK to EU jurisdiction by “stealth” as he warned against allowing Labour to unpick Brexit “through the back door”.

Sir Keir said yesterday at a summit of the European Political Community that the UK under his leadership would not be part of the EU but would be “very much a part of Europe”.

The Prime Minister has pledged to “reset” the UK’s relationship with Brussels and “improve” the post-Brexit trade deal. 

Sir Jacob, the Tory former business secretary, told GB News: “Arch Remainer Sir Keir is by his own reckoning, seeking to distance himself from the previous Conservative government’s approach to European relations, such as dismantling the possibility of withdrawing from human rights agreements. 

“However, when considering the vague, non committal term ‘reset’ in the context of the Prime Minister’s own record on European affairs, while he specifies ‘not part of the European Union, but very much part of Europe’, it is clear that he is returning Britain into EU jurisdiction through a combination of stealth and domestic measures.”

Sir Jacob argued it is “crucial that Brexiteers in the House of Commons and outside do not allow Keir Starmer to take Britain back into the EU, by the gradual cessation of powers, and resubjection to European regulations”.

“Brexit was too hard fought to be relinquished through the back door,” he added.

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