The EU’s ambassador to the UK, Pedro Serrano, has said that the EU is “favourable” to the possibility of an agreement on sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) in the future, as the UK and EU eye a possible re-negotiation of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA).

Speaking at a panel session yesterday (24 January), hosted by the UK in a Changing Europe, ambassador Serrano said that the EU was open to the idea of a new agreement on SPS goods to help smooth the border process:

“The TCA is a quite a broad agreement and that’s why we’ve also always been rather favourable to, or responded positively to, the possibly of an SPS type of agreement.”

Labour leader Keir Starmer has pledged to negotiate a SPS deal with Europe if he wins the next election.

Strings attached?

However, Serrano added that such an agreement might come with certain requirements.

“Of course, an SPS agreement entails modalities that, well, let’s see whether the UK is interested in those modalities or not, because it would entail, probably, dynamic alignment, and things of this sort.”

On other issues, both Serrano and Lindsay Croisdale-Appleby, ambassador and head of the UK mission to the EU, stressed that it had been a good year for the UK-EU relationship, with “trust re-established” and a number of agreements on things such as democracy, security, financial services and aiding Ukraine in its struggle against the Russian invasion.

Croisdale-Appleby also pointed to the Windsor framework and a “positive” council on financial relationships.

After the divorce

Serrano said when it came to overcoming Brexit tensions:

“Obviously it's a divorce and divorce always creates some difficulties for those that are divorcing themselves, but I think afterwards you can re-build a new relationship.”

The first review session of the TCA is set for May 2026, and could range from examining the implementation of the agreement to a broader look at some of the provisions in the agreement.

Both diplomats said that, while nothing was for certain, the first revision of the TCA would likely be a lighter touch set of changes, with the EU in particular “not going to necessarily do something different”.

However, Catherine Barnard, a professor of EU law at Cambridge University, said the EU and UK were “singing from a desultory song-sheet”.

“It was a pretty thin zero-tariff, zero-quota trade deal. Pretty good for the EU in respect of goods and pretty terrible for the UK in respect of services.”

Barnard added that the services sector was “squealing” from the effects of the TCA.

“You might ask, is this it? Is this as good as it’s going to get?” she added, noting that the UK was still “largely bound by rules imposed by Brussels but with no ability to change them”.

Mobility agreements

One notable issue that arose was the issue of worker mobility across borders, a matter seen as particularly crucial to the UK’s services industry and the pan-European identity.

The UK has recently expanded a series of youth mobility schemes, notably with Australia and New Zealand, but also South Korea and Japan.

However, upon leaving the EU, the UK withdrew from the Erasmus programme, which permitted students from across Europe to study in other European nations. While a British Turing Scheme was introduced as a replacement, it has been criticised by universities and student groups.

Barnard noted the lack of mobility agreement in the TCA, adding that it was “particularly difficult” for business travellers to get visas.

Ambassador Croisdale-Appleby said it was encouraging to find that the EU was “taking more of an interest in what it wants” from the relationship, while noting that mobility could be pursued with either the EU or with individual member states:

 “The kinds of mobility agreements we have with Australia and Canada could be used for individual member states, rather than the EU.”

“Sometimes easier to pursue things with EU member states,” he said, noting that other issues were better dealt with centrally by European bodies.

Ambassador Serrano  added that “the EU is particularly interested in youth mobility”, noting that the jury was “still out” on whether the EU or member states individually would be best placed to negotiate with the UK on any expansion of such mobility agreements.