What does Keir Starmer really believe in? His deal with the European Union will provide answers | Tom Baldwin

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

54% : Downing Street is more robust than it would have been a few months ago about facing down opposition to "dynamic alignment" with EU rules to gain access to food and energy markets, or giving a role for the European court of justice in settling disputes.
53% : Although the Home Office remains fixated on reducing numbers of immigrants, Monday will see a "statement of intent" on agreeing a fixed number of visas for a youth mobility scheme between the UK and the EU, as well as some warm words about easing travel restrictions for musicians touring Europe.
52% : At the same time, the government is still constrained by its election promises that ruled out rejoining the single market and a customs union or allowing freedom of movement with the EU.
49% : The new security and defence pact being signed on Monday will not only enable democratic nations on this continent to coordinate the rearmament needed to protect Ukraine and defend themselves against Russia, but also make British military manufacturing firms eligible to bid for at least some of vast funding available from EU procurement contracts.
48% : What runs through all of this is not some ideological remainer-ish desire for Britain to rejoin the EU, but a series of calculations about pursuing the national interest on jobs, protecting borders and defending some recognisably British values.
46% : Similarly, the shock of Trump's tariffs has made it all the more imperative for the UK to have a closer trading relationship with the EU, with a deal finally being agreed on easing barriers for livestock and fresh food products.
46% : Although plans to link the UK's carbon emissions trading scheme with that in the EU may trigger scary headlines in rightwing newspapers about potential consequences for household energy bills, a deal is now regarded as essential and urgent to securing manufacturing jobs - not least at the steel plants of Scunthorpe.
28% : One catalyst for this change has been the recognition that the US is no longer a stable ally since Donald Trump resumed residence in the White House.
26% : Their meaning will doubtless be further obscured when Reform and the Tories blow stale breath into overinflated claims about it being a "betrayal" of Britain's 2016 referendum on leaving the EU.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.