Deadlock for Brexit reset days before UK-EU summit

Sir Keir Starmer is locked in a 1bn standoff with the EU over university tuition fees as he tries to get his much-vaunted Brexit reset deal agreed in time for Monday’s crucial summit.

- DAVID MADDOX and MILLIE COOKE

The prime minister’s optimism that he is on the cusp of landing a “superb deal” with the EU was dealt a blow with just days to go after EU member states raised a series of objections to the European Commission’s draft communique.

The Independent understands that there is anger that the draft deal does not include big enough concessions from the UK on fishing rights and student fees, while a proposed cap on the number of under-40s who could live and work in the UK and Europe under a time-limited youth mobility scheme is too low.

They also appear to be pressing for Britain to accept the authority of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), as first reported in the Financial Times.

But with chancellor Rachel Reeves struggling to balance the books and under mounting pressure to raise taxes or break her financial borrowing rules, the demand that EU students pay UK student rates at British universities is a problem for Labour.

With UK universities having between 75,000 and 95,000 EU students over the past two years and overseas student fees ranging from £12,000 to £40,000 compared to £9,535 for UK students, it is understood that the gap in funding for UK universities could be around £1bn if such a deal were agreed.