The UK and EU have reached a ‘reset’ deal ahead of today’s (19 May) leaders’ summit in London, with concrete agreements on fisheries and agriculture.
Under the terms of the deal, the UK will grant European boats access to British waters for 12 more years in exchange for the easing of EU trade barriers on British food products.
Agreement on the much-discussed youth mobility scheme for those under 30 has yet to be reached, but EU officials claim the final text commits both parties to “working towards” a youth mobility agreement in the coming months, according to the FT.
Announcement
The deal was dubbed a “late breakthrough” by one British official, after it was secured in the early hours of Sunday morning, following weeks of negotiation.
Ambassadors from the 27 EU member states met to sign off on the deal on Monday morning, ahead of a Lancaster House press conference scheduled for 12.30pm today.
Chartered Institute members can read and hear more exclusive insight about the ramifications of today’s summit in tomorrow’s Daily Update newsletter and at a reflection webinar tomorrow,
The webinar will feature member-exclusive insights from Fergus McReynolds, the Chartered Institute’s European and international director, and the deputy ambassador in the UK mission to the EU, Caroline Read.
‘Good’ for jobs, bills and borders
Nicholas Thomas-Symonds, the UK’s minister for EU relations posted on X to mark the deal, writing that it will be: “Good for jobs. Good for bills. Good for borders”.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves told Sky News it was a “really big day” and echoed the party line on the benefits to working people. Highlighting recent trade deals made with India and the US, she said of the EU agreement:
“Our biggest trading partners are our friends in the European Union, and for too long it's been too difficult to export, to bring in talent, to trade with our nearest neighbours. That's not good enough.”
Fishing backlash
However, the deal’s extension of EU access to British waters until 2038, has been received poorly by the UK’s fishing industry.
Chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation Elspeth Macdonald told BBC’s Good Morning Scotland Programme that the 12-year agreement is an “absolutely disastrous outcome” for the Scottish fishing industry.
As the deal removes the opportunity to negotiate fishing quotas on a yearly basis with the EU, she adds that “the EU continues to take a far bigger share” of UK fish.
Trade offs
However, speaking to the Daily Update, Dr Peter Holmes, reader in economics at the Sussex European Institute, said that the veterinary agreement would be more beneficial to the industry than the change in fishery terms:
“An agreement to relax regulatory controls on UK fish being sold in the EU, if it materialises, is worth more to fisheries than the loss of the opportunity to have annual haggles.”
This point was also made by business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, who said that the UK’s fishing industry will benefit from new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) arrangements with Brussels:
“It’s not just about what you catch but who you’re going to sell it to”.
Anticipating a backlash, the FT reports that the government could launch a ‘Fishing & Coastal Growth’ fund worth £360m today.
Veterinary agreement
Securing an agreement on SPS standards for food and drink products was a much-coveted prize ahead of the summit, pledged by Labour in their 2024 election manifesto.
Full details of the agreement have yet to be announced, but the veterinary agreement could remove regulatory barriers to both farm and fish exports to the EU.
British food and drink exports to the EU have declined in recent years, with post-Brexit regulators changes increasing the time and costs involved in moving goods.
A report last year from the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy advocated for an SPS agreement that better aligned both parties’ requirements around documentation and inspections. It’s claimed that such an agreement would boost UK food and drink exports to the EU by 22.5%.
McReynolds last week predicted that the UK and EU could agree to launch a framework to negotiate aligning SPS standards and removing trade barriers, with dialogue to ensue on the exact mechanisms for achieving this over the coming months.
Youth mobility
Youth mobility will remain on the cards for future talks, although Starmer has had to push back given domestic political pressure to limit UK immigration.
Discussing the proposal in the context to comparable schemes the UK has with Canada and Australia, Reynolds said:
“They’re limited. They’re targeted. It’s a sort of smart system. It’s not the kind of access people had when we were members of the European Union.
“I think last year, we issued, as a country about 24,000 visas for the various youth mobility schemes. So this is not immigration, it’s not freedom of movement. It’s something very different.”
Holmes warned that although the youth mobility scheme is “not unpopular” in the UK and “can be shown to be different to freedom of movement”, there could be negative political consequence to stalling an agreement.
“Resisting youth mobility, and then agreeing to it as if it is a serious concession, rather than a mutually beneficial idea, is not likely to go down well.”
Political comment
Right-wing opposition have condemned today’s agreement as a “surrender” with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch saying “we’re becoming a rule-taker from Brussels once again”.
Opposition MPs from Reform and the Conservatives have also said the deal is a betrayal of the fishing industry. Suella Braverman said the government had “let down our fishing community” and Reform leader Nigel Farage also claimed it would be “the end” of the industry.
By contrast, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey dismissed Badenoch and Farage as “dinosaurs fighting old battles” and said that the UK shouldn’t be “dragged back” to past Brexit disputes. He urged Starmer to be “bold and ambitious” at the summit and reiterated his request for a new EU-UK customs union, at which Starmer has consistently drawn a line.
