Merz says he ‘deplores deeply’ UK’s decision to leave EU after signing UK-Germany treaty – as it happened | Politics

Merz says he ‘deplores deeply’ UK’s decision to leave EU

In his opening remarks during the press conference with Keir Starmer, Friedrich Merz said that he deplored Brexit. He said:

The United Kingdom, and I personally deplore this deeply, decided to leave the European Union.

He added that “it is together that we respond to the major challenges of our time”.

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Key events

Afternoon summary

Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, has said he “deplores deeply” the UK’s decision to leave the EU. (See 4.38pm.)

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Labour and Greens likely to gain most from votes at 16, but not by much, say experts

Here are comments from two pollsters on who might benefit most from votes at 16.

From Luke Tryl, director of More in Common UK

Given young voters tend to lean to the left, we should expect the Greens and Labour to be the bigger winners of extending the vote to 16 and 17 year olds, with Reform doing well among young men, and the Tories the big losers. But 16-17 year old voters would only make up a small proportion of the electorate, so are unlikely to shift the dial politically at a national level. That said in a fragmented political landscape, even small changes can have big effects locally

Beyond the electoral impact, the bigger question is whether this change will be popular. The public opposes lowering the voting age by a 48% to 27% margin, and it is not near the top of many Britons’ priorities. So the government will have to set out a clear message to the public about why they are pursuing this policy if they are to bring the public on board.

From Patrick English, director of polling analytics at YouGov

The narrative that Farage/Reform are popular among young people is false – they’re on ~10% with 18-24s, compared to ~30% for Labour.

Labour are most popular choice for young voters.

I don’t see any reason why 16-17 year olds would be any different (to 18-24s) in this regard so I don’t see why Reform, rather than Labour (who lead with that group), would be punching the air.

It’s certainly true that Greens will be happy though – they’re 2nd among young voters

I think the whole “Reform are popular among young people” false narrative is spun up from the fact that Reform are probably more popular among young people *than we may expect*, and that there are young men wearing suits happy to go on the media to talk about their Reform support

But that doesn’t actually reflect the polling reality – Labour still leads among young voters, Reform are way, way behind. Basically level with the Conservatives.

I fully expect votes at 16 to definitely benefit Labour most, as well as Greens and even Lib Dems. Not Reform.

(The caveat being… the size of said benefit is very much to be determined. We aren’t *actually* talking about a huge number of people, here. Even fewer still when you consider turnout propensity among younger voters. So this won’t be an electoral silver bullet.)

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Claims by former Tory ministers they fiercely opposed secret Afghan resettlement scheme not accurate, says ex-colleague

This morning the Daily Telegraph splashed on a story saying several cabinet ministers in the last government strongly opposed the then government’s plan to set up a secret resettlement scheme for some of the Afghans named in the list that was leaked of people asking for help because they had worked with the British.

Reading the story, it implies that senior Tories were queuing up to disown the policy. In his report, Gordon Rayner said:

Multiple sources have told The Telegraph that the plan to airlift thousands of Afghans to the UK – codenamed Operation Rubific – caused a major row within government, with senior Cabinet ministers objecting to it on the grounds of security, cost and practicality.

Among those who raised objections were Sir James Cleverly, who was foreign secretary and then home secretary during the time the row was raging; Suella Braverman, who preceded Sir James in the Home Office; Michael Gove, the communities secretary, and Laura Trott, the chief secretary to the Treasury, it is understood.

Rayner says Suella Braverman, the former home secrtary, also opposed the plan.

Mrs Braverman, who had been attorney general before her elevation to the Home Office, “got into serious arguments” with the Ministry of Defence, one source said, telling (defence minister James Heappey) she “just didn’t believe” that all of the people on the leaked list were genuine claimants.

This afternoon Heappey, who was armed forces minister when the leak happened, has posted a thread on social media giving his side of the story. He suggests some of his former colleagues who are now telling the Telegraph how hard they fought this particular scheme may be having memory problems. Ministers were opposed to the other schemes to resettle Afghans at risk, he says. But he says there was no fierce opposition to the secret scheme set up after the leak, because people accepted it was needed.

Here are two of his posts.

Some reporting around dynamics of Govt meetings & decision making is inaccurate in that it conflates meetings on lots of other elements of our offer to those who worked with us in Afghanistan with the response to the data breach, known until now by the codeword RUBIFIC. (3/25)

The anger across Govt at the MOD over the breach was palpable & justified. There were some pretty choice words offered in meetings. But the suggestion I was driving a new entitlement for those not eligible for ARAP or ACRS (two other Afghan resettlement schemes, operating before the secret one was set up) but affected by the breach is untrue. (21/25)

Given strain the system was under already, the Domestic & Economic Affairs (DEA) Committee tried to extend entitlements by smallest number possible. This was led by legal advice & I don’t recall fierce opposition. There was frustrated resignation that it was necessary. (22/25)

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Updated at 12.19 EDT

What Starmer said to explain why 4 MPs yesterday lost Labour whip

And this is what Keir Starmer said during his press conference defending the decision to withdraw the whip yesterday from four rebel MPs.

Look, we are elected in to change this country for the better, and that means we’ve got to carry through that change, and we’ve got to carry through reforms, because we inherited a broken economy and broken public services.

No government has inherited both of those ever before, and I’m determined that we will change this country for the better, for millions of working people, and I’m not going to be deflected from that.

And therefore we had to deal with people who repeatedly break the whip, because everyone was elected as a Labour MP on the manifesto of change and everybody needs to deliver as a Labour government. This is about what we’re doing for the country, and that’s why I’m so determined to press forward with the reforms and the change that we need to bring about.

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Here is the full quote from Keir Starmer about how the coalition of the willing’s plans for a peacekeeping force in Ukraine, in the event of a ceasefire, include troops on the ground. He said:

The question we were answering is, what do we need to have in place in order to ensure that if there is a peace, if there is a ceasefire, it is a last ceasefire?

I’m very glad that we’ve done that work months ago now.

We’ve had our military planners, from a number of countries, working on plans. They are plans for the air, for the sea, and, yes, for land.

The fourth component is strengthening the Ukrainian capable itself, to ensure that that remains in place and is stronger after any ceasefire.

So they are the four component parts, and that does include a land element.

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Merz says he ‘deplores deeply’ UK’s decision to leave EU

In his opening remarks during the press conference with Keir Starmer, Friedrich Merz said that he deplored Brexit. He said:

The United Kingdom, and I personally deplore this deeply, decided to leave the European Union.

He added that “it is together that we respond to the major challenges of our time”.

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Details of more than 100 British officials were included in the leaked data, which may have fallen into the hands of the Taliban, the BBC is reporting.

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Starmer says coalition of willing’s plan for peacekeeping force for Ukraine includes troops on ground

Q: (From Bloomberg) What do you think of the EU budget, and were you sufficiently informed in advance? Will there be a conflict between Brussels and Berlin?

Merz says this was discussed at the last European Council meeting. He says he was surprised. The proposal on the table now changes the weighting on different positions.

He says he cannot accept a tax on companies by the EU. If necesssary, they will have a unanimous vote. He is opposed to creating the burden on companies.

He says the debt issues faced are “the new normal”.

It will be a tough struggle for the next two years, he says.

Q: How realistic is it to talk of a European peacekeeping force for Ukraine. Will it involve boots on the grounds?

Starmer says it is important to show how this all fits to together.

First, they must get Putin to the table. That is why Ukraine must be in the strongest possible position.

If there are peace talks, “it must then be a lasting peace”, he says.

That was the thinking behind having a coalition of the willing.

He says he is glad plans started months ago. Those plans cover, air, sea ‘“and, yes, land”, he says.

A land element is included, he says.

He thinks the plans are “completed as far as they can be”. They could be operationalised now, he says.

He says it would have been a mistake to have delayed planning until the the ceasefire started.

And a command structure is in place, he says.

And that is the end of the press conference.

UPDATE: See 4.46pm for the full quote.

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Updated at 11.47 EDT

Q: Which countries will supply weapons to Ukraine? And to what extent will you buy them from the US?

Merz says it won’t happen immediately, but it will happen within days or weeks.

Starmer says the UK has been working with allies on “capability” for Ukraine for some time. It has done a lot of work on training, he says.

He says President Zelenskyy has shown his willingness to come to the table. Now President Putin must do the same.

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Merz says Ukraine will be ‘much better positioned’ as new supplies of arms arrive

Q: (From Anne McElvoy at Politico) How long will it take to get new weapons to Ukraine? Will there be further economic sanctions?

Starmer says the treaty signed this morning was a “work plan” that can kick in straight away.

As other European countries increase their spending, they must cooperate more on procurement and production, he says.

Q: You promised to deliver Taurus weapons to Ukraine. Why has that not happened yet?

Merz says he and Starmer discussed military support for Ukraine in great deal today. They won’t talk about the details in public. But Ukraine will be “much better positioned”, he says.

Q: It is Angela Merkel’s birthday today? Have you sent her congratulations?

Of course he sends her his best wishes, Merz says.

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Merz says UK, France and Germany working on joint deal to tackle illegal migration

Merz is now answering Beth Rigby’s two questions to him, about illegal migration and President Trump.

He starts by joking about how long her questions were. He has all day to answer, he jokes.

He says the German government has taken a further step to deal with this problem.

He says they are looking at a joint deal with the UK and France on this issue.

Starmer intervenes, to say he is very grateful to Merz for the changes being made on migration rules.

UPDATE: Merz said:

Our objective is to closely co-operate with the United Kingdom.

The co-operation between the United Kingdom and France that was agreed last week has to be complemented by an agreement that we aim to achieve, between the three of us – UK, Germany, France.

We want to stand up and trust to and drastically reduce illegal migration in Europe.

We are on a good path, but we haven’t reached the target yet.

And Starmer said:

Last week, we obviously dealt with what’s happening in the north of France in relation to maritime tactics and our ability to return people through the returns agreement that we agreed last week to France.

But for a long time, I’ve been very concerned about the fact that engines, in particular, but component parts of the boats that are being used are travelling through and being stored in Germany, but they can’t be seized because the law didn’t accommodate for a country which had left the EU and therefore needed to be amended.

And I am very grateful for the chancellor, and we’ve discussed this at great length on a number of occasions, he’s now going to change the law, introduce the necessary legislation, so that we can intervene in that place.

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Updated at 11.33 EDT

Starmer defends suspending 4 Labour rebels, saying government must be able to deliver change

The opening remarks are open, and now they are taking questions.

Q: (From Beth Rigby from Sky News) Will the UK be involved in the Trump plan to sell arms to Ukraine?

Starmer says this offer is really important. Germany and the UK are working together on that, he says. It shows the strength of Germany, France and the UK working together.

Q: When 47 Labour MPs rebelled against Tony Blair over welfare in his first year, he did not suspend any of them. Why are you so rattled by this? Doesn’t this make you look weak?

Starmer says Labour was elected to change the country for the better. It inherited a broken economy and broken public services. No new government has had both those problems. He says he has to deal with people who “repeatedly break the whip” because the government needs to implement change.

UPDATE: See 4.50pm for the full quote.

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Updated at 11.51 EDT

Merz says President Trump’s announcement about supplying more weapons to Ukraine earlier this week was “very important”.

European countries will pay for them, he says. German will make an important contribution, he says. But he says they need to discuss the details with allies.

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Merz says Germany is linked to France by treaty, and the UK also has a treaty link with France. All three treaties (ie, including the UK-Germany one) are complementary, he says. He says it is “no coincidence” that he is in London just after President Macron’s state visit.

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Merz is speaking now. He starts in English, but quickly switches to German.

He says he and Starmer signed their treaty in the V&A museum today. That is why it is called the Kensington Treaty. And they chose the V&A because “the union of Queen Victoria and her German husband, Prince Albert, lasted a lifetime and was a happy one”.

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One of the features of the deal announced today includes plans to a direct rail link between the UK and Germany, the government says. It says:

This significant step forward on establishing direct rail services comes as the UK and Germany commit to enhancing sustainable transport links and collaborate in the field of sustainable, innovative and universally accessible transport solutions and mobility.

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Starmer opens the press conference by talking about the cooperation treaty signed today.

Here is the No 10 readout of their earlier talks in Downing Street.

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Starmer and Merz hold press conference

Keir Starmer and Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, are holding their press conference at the Airbus factory in Stevenage.

There is a live feed here.

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