What to make of EU-UK "reset" deal
Britain will once again become “the gimp of Brussels”, fumed the UK’s former-PM Boris Johnson today, who piped up to lambast Keir Starmer for signing a "total sell out" deal with the EU.
Yet Britain’s current PM insisted that his new agreement with Brussels to reset post-Brexit relations is “looking forwards not backwards” and a “win-win” for Britain, granting it “unprecedented access to the EU market”, while ensuring the UK remains outside the single market and customs union, with no return to freedom of movement.
EU boss, Ursula von der Leyen, was similarly cheery this afternoon. "We are turning a page, a new chapter in our unique relationship,” said VDL, during her joint press conference with Starmer, who hosted top Brussels officials in London for the first UK-EU summit since Brexit.
It’s not just Boris who has denounced the deal as a Brexit betrayal. Current leaders of the Tory party and Reform UK are similarly unimpressed, characterising this afternoon’s talks as a “surrender summit”.
What to make of this “re-set”?
The new agreement reached between the UK and EU today largely covers food trade, fishing access, defence and UK travellers' access to e-gates.
Front and centre is a 12-year agreement in which Britain will ease access to its waters for EU fishing vessels in return for reduced checks and barriers for British firms wanting to sell food to the bloc.
The reaction from Scotland’s fishing industry has been decidedly mixed. Scottish Fishermen's Federation labelled the deal “a horror show for Scottish fishermen” accusing the UK government of "capitulating" to the EU on water access. Yet Salmon Scotland, a lobby group for Scottish salmon exporters, congratulated the government on a “breakthrough” that will “slash red tape”, giving Scottish products easier access to the EU market and “easing the burden on our farmers and processors”.
Scottish salmon is the UK’s largest food export - a reminder of why any agreement impacting this sector is so important. Yet such sharply contrasting reactions within the industry is a reminder too that any deal involves trade-offs.
More generally, many food and drinks exporters between Britain and the EU will be celebrating the news of a reduction in red tape which has impeded trade. Though not without some potential sticking points for UK agriculture: in return for Brussels easing checks on British produce sold in Europe, the UK has agreed to follow EU food safety and animal welfare standards. While ministers argue that British and European standards are already largely aligned, critics have voiced concern that the deal will require Britain to follow future EU legislation without any say on the drafting of laws.
Other elements of the deal are yet to be properly hashed out. Both sides have agreed to “work towards” a youth mobility scheme but there is no detail on a cap or timeframe. Starmer and VDL also announced a new security and defence partnership, which the UK government says will “pave the way for the UK defence industry to participate in” the EU's proposed new £150bn EU rearmament fund. Though so far, the EU has only agreed to “swiftly explore” UK access to the fund.
Even the purported agreement to address one of the most visible signs of Brexit is a little vague: “British holidaymakers will be able to use more e-gates in Europe” following today’s deal, according to the UK government, though its use of the word “more” implies that Brits haven’t been granted unfettered access to speedier e-gates.
While several issues have been left subject to further negotiation, Starmer’s government has been clear that others - namely, rejoining the single market and customs union or allowing freedom of movement are “red lines” - and won’t happen. Meaning this deal only dismantles a few of the barriers the post-Brexit trading deal created.
Which, in turn, means the deal runs the risk of pleasing neither Remainers nor Brexiteers: ardent Brexiteers will view it as Starmer caving in on some former red-lines (Britain had, for instance, previously pushed back on the EU’s attempts to create a formal link between a food export deal and fisheries access) while ardent Remainers will be disappointed the deal doesn’t go further.
The Liberal Democrats - whose position is that Britain should rejoin the EU’s customs union - have urged the PM to “be more ambitious”.
Starmer himself defended his reset deal, insisting that most of its critics came out against it before they’d even read a single word of the agreement. Which is probably not entirely untrue.
Ultimately, regardless of whether they view today’s deal as a good one, Starmer will be hoping that most of the public has simply lost the appetite to return in depth to a row that polarised British politics for so many years. Especially at a time when the geopolitical landscape is so fraught.
Caitlin Allen
Deputy Editor
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