London: Britain’s government said Monday it has struck new agreements with the European Union on boosting defence cooperation, easing food trade and border checks, as the two sides met for the first formal summit since Brexit.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other senior EU officials in London for talks, said the deals will slash red tape, grow the British economy and reset relations with the 27-nation trade bloc since the UK left the EU in 2020.
Under the deals, a new UK-EU defence and security partnership will allow the UK to access a EU defence loan program worth 150 billion euros ($170 billion.)
Other agreements include removing some checks on animal and plant products to ease food trade across borders, and a 12-year extension of an agreement allowing EU fishing vessels in UK waters.
“It’s time to look forward. To move on from the stale old debates and political fights to find common sense, practical solutions which get the best for the British people,” Starmer said.
While the EU is the UK’s largest trading partner, the UK has been hit with a 21% drop in exports since Brexit because of more onerous border checks, laborious paperwork and other non-tariff barriers.
Post-Brexit visa restrictions have also hobbled the cross-border activities of professionals such as bankers or lawyers, as well as cultural exchanges, including touring bands and school trips.
Resetting relations
Since becoming prime minister in July, Starmer has sought to reset relations with the EU, following years of tensions in the wake of the UK’s 2016 Brexit referendum.
Post-Brexit relations have been governed by a trade agreement negotiated by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Starmer thinks that can be improved in a way that boosts trade and bolsters security.
Starmer hailed Monday’s agreements — the third trade deal struck by his government in as many weeks following accords with the US and India — as “good for jobs, good for bills and good for our borders.”
Burgers, fishing and youth mobility
The defence pact will allow Britain’s defence industry to access cheap loans from a new EU loan program to buy military equipment, in part to help Ukraine defend itself.
In trade, officials say they will reduce routine border checks and costs on some food imports and exports to make it easier for goods to flow freely. The changes will mean the UK can sell products like British burgers and sausages to the EU again, officials said.
“We know we’ve had lorries waiting for 16 hours, fresh food in the back not able to be exported, because frankly it’s just going off, red tape, all the certifications that are required, we absolutely want to reduce that,” Cabinet Office minister Thomas-Symonds, who led the negotiations, told the BBC.
In fisheries, the deal means European fishing boats will have access to UK waters until 2038. While economically minor, fishing has long been a sticking point and symbolically important issue for the UK and EU member states such as France. Disputes over the issue nearly derailed a Brexit deal back in 2020.
The talks also included a youth mobility plan that would allow young Britons and Europeans to live and work temporarily in each other’s territory.
That remains a politically touchy issue in the UK, seen by some Brexiteers as inching back toward free movement — though the UK already has youth mobility arrangements with countries including Australia and Canada.
Starmer has stressed that the UK won’t rejoin the EU’s frictionless single market and customs union, nor agree to the free movement of people between the UK and the EU.
Opposition objects to a ‘surrender’
Some of the trade-offs may prove difficult for Starmer, who faces growing challenges from the pro-Brexit and anti-immigration Reform UK party and will likely see accusations of “betraying Brexit,” whatever the outcome of the talks.
Reform, which recently won big in local elections, and the opposition Conservative Party have already called the deal a “surrender” to the EU before any details were confirmed.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has backed Brexit, could also be a potential headache for Starmer.
“The reset could still be blown off course by disagreements over how to consolidate existing areas of cooperation like fisheries and/or external factors, such as a negative reaction from the US to the UK seeking closer ties with the EU,” said Jannike Wachowiak, research associate at the UK in a Changing Europe think tank.
AP
