Keir Starmer secretly offered backdoor deal to EU to slash tuition fees for foreign students in exchange for locking in Brexit reset talks

Sir Keir Starmer offered to reduce tuition fees for European Union students coming to Britain in exchange for securing a date for a summit with Brussels officials.

The Prime Minister wanted to cut fees from £38,000 to £9,535, in line with their domestic UK undergraduate counterparts.

According to sources, the pitch took place on the fringes of the G7 summit in Evian-Les-Bains, France, earlier this month between Sir Keir and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.

The Prime Minister reportedly only agreed to discuss the costs of higher education on the basis that progress was made on his demands for the wider trade deal.

Another source told The Telegraph the topic was discussed at a separate bilateral meeting with Antonio Costa, the European Council’s president, before the summit date was announced.

A UK-EU summit had been due to take place on July 22. although this was thrown into doubt after Sir Keir’s announcement on Monday that he would stand down.

Amid turmoil in Westminster, the European Commission said it was “reassessing” whether the meeting would still go ahead.

One source suggested the summit would only go ahead if it was deemed "successful" from an EU perspective.

Andy Burnham, the Makerfield MP and likely successor to Sir Keir, has indicated he is a supporter of closer ties with the EU, having previously said he wanted to see the UK back in the trade bloc within his lifetime.

However, as he campaigned in the by-election in the Leave-voting constituency, he sought to play down these comments and pledged not to "re-run" the arguments of Brexit.

He is already facing calls to lean into relations with Europe, with economic analysis commissioned by the campaign group Best For Britain is suggesting the UK would gain a £92billion windfall if it took steps up to and including re-joining the EU.

Mr Burnham stands to inherit a warmer relationship between the continent and the UK than had existed under the Conservatives because of Sir Keir’s "reset" with Europe.

Before Britain left the EU in 2020, students from the bloc had been made to pay annual international fees of up to £38,000.

According to figures from 2024/2025, around 11 per cent of the UK’s 685,565 foreign students come from the EU.

Should students from the EU be allowed to pay the same as their British counterparts, it is expected there would be a rise in students from the bloc joining UK universities.

Some officials suggested it will fuel concerns that the £5billion in loans owed by EU students could continue to increase.

Meanwhile, Lisa Nandy said revisiting the Brexit debate is like saying “life was fine in 2015, we just need to go back there".

The Culture Secretary told Sky News: "I like and respect Wes a lot, and I listened carefully to what he had to say yesterday, I think you know I have a different perspective on this, and we do as a Government.

"The Government that he was part of until recently has been trying to take a far more pragmatic approach to bringing us closer to Europe and repairing some of the damage that was done from a poor Brexit deal to people’s living standards in parts of the country like mine, rather than reopening the Brexit wars and going round back again around that track."

Ms Nandy added: "If rejoining the EU is the answer, then essentially what we’re saying to people is 'life was fine in 2015, we just need to go back there."