Conservatives say Sir Keir Starmer has been “taken for a fool” by Brussels after it emerged the European Union has rejected British pleas for access to migration data which was supposed to be a central part of Labour’s Brexit “reset”. The Government will resume detailed work this week on a new EU deal in preparation for a major summit on May 19, after negotiations were suspended in the run-up to local elections. But the EU has turned down requests for an information-sharing scheme which the UK believes would prove invaluable in the fight against organised crime and small boat crossings.

The Prime Minister insisted last year: “I’m absolutely clear that when it comes to cross-border crime, particularly people smuggling, the more we can share the better.” However, Brussels has told Sir Keir that the EU will not share information such as the fingerprints of illegal migrants with British police and immigration officials.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “2025 is already spiralling into the worst year on record for illegal Channel crossings, and Labour are standing by, paralysed, clueless, and without a plan.

“Starmer has been taken for a fool, outplayed abroad and out of his depth at home. This is what happens when you put paper-pushers with no backbone in charge.

“This shows that the EU is still sadly unwilling to enter into reasonable agreements even where they are in the clear interests of both parties.”

The number of small boat crossings has reached 11,000 this year and Sir Keir is desperate to make progress on his promise to “smash the gangs” responsible for sending migrants unlawfully across the Channel.

Despite the setback, the Prime Minister hopes to announce significant progress on a new Brexit deal, which he is calling a reset, at a London summit on May 19, designed to be the first in a series of regular meetings.

Intensive talks between British and EU negotiators will now resume.

The Prime Minister wants a new security pact with the EU, changes to the EU’s import rules making it easier for British firms to sell food on the Continent and measures simplifying electricity imports and exports.

In return, the EU is demanding a Youth Mobility Scheme giving UK and EU citizens aged 30 and under the right to live and work in each others’ countries for up to four years. One EU official said this was a red line for member states, telling website Politico: “Most of them really pushed on youth mobility.”

The Government has been reluctant to sign up to the scheme because of fears it would increase the UK’s immigration figures but Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has come round to the idea of a “one in, one out” policy that could keep numbers down.

Brussels also wants EU fishing vessels to have more access to British waters.