Fears have been raised that Britain could end up paying yet more to Brussels in another Brexit backtrack by Sir Keir Starmer.
Talks have begun with the EU on an electricity trading deal which ministers believe could help cut energy bills for homes.
But in return for being allowed to rejoin its internal electricity market the EU is expected to demand Britain pays into its ‘cohesion fund’, which gives cash to poor regions of the continent.
This comes just days after the Prime Minister signed up to the EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme, which could cost UK taxpayers up to £6billion over the next seven years – three times as much as a demand rejected by Boris Johnson during Brexit negotiations.
Sir Keir also recently vowed to ‘keep moving towards a closer relationship with the EU’, having earlier this year agreed to a ‘surrender’ deal that allowed French fishermen to trawl British waters for another 12 years.
Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel said: ‘Having agreed to give the EU billions as part of the Erasmus deal for seemingly nothing in return, Sir Keir Starmer is now contemplating another bung to Brussels.
‘Voters will rightly doubt whether he is really batting for Britain.’
Brexit reset minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said the Government would ‘not make general contributions to the EU budget’ to achieve the electricity deal, which he said would drive down energy costs for UK families.
Fears have been raised that Britain could end up paying yet more to Brussels in another Brexit backtrack by Sir Keir Starmer.
But it is understood Labour is willing to consider fair contributions to gain access to the market, which would allow British companies to export energy to the bloc.
Former Brexit negotiator Lord Frost said: ‘The only thing we are getting back from this negotiation is the right to be subject to EU laws that we have no say in, don’t suit us and can’t change.’
Sources insisted that the UK has made clear it will not pay into the EU’s cohesion fund.
