Pragmatism or surrender? Starmer’s EU deal explained.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has declared that “Britain is back on the world stage” as an agreement on the post-Brexit “reset” of relations with the EU was unveiled at a summit in London.
There are provisions for key areas like food standards, energy, youth mobility, security, and steel with ministers claiming that the new deals on food and energy will deliver a boost to Britain’s GDP of £8.9 billion annually by 2040.
Starmer hailed the agreement as providing “unprecedented access to the EU market,” claiming to have secured better trade and economic links with the bloc than any other non-EU country.
However, critics from the Conservatives and Reform UK have slammed the new deal, with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accusing the PM of “selling out”. Nigel Farage said Starmer’s pact marks “the end of the UK fishing industry.”
Fishing concessions
In return for easier access to the EU market, the deal offers EU trawlers access to British waters for a further twelve years, considerably longer than had been anticipated. This prevents UK fishermen from being able to re-negotiate their share of “allowable catches” on an annual basis, as they had hoped.
Marley Morris, associate director for migration, trade and communities at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said that “the fishing industry may feel shortchanged by the 12-year concession on access to waters,” but that “smoother trade for their products offers some balance.”
In exchange, the UK gets more access to EU markets. This includes seafood, “open[ing] the door for shellfish” exports, Starmer said.
Other sectors will also get better terms; there will now be “a bespoke arrangement” for British steel exports to the EU.
In an attempt to sweeten a bitter pill, the UK government announced they would be investing £360m into the fishing industry, which will go towards new technology and equipment and upskilling the workforce – helping UK fishers stay competitive.
‘Dynamic alignment’ on food standards
The most substantial provisions set out in the agreement are those around the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) standards governing the trade in animal and food products.
The deal aims to establish common standards to cut down on red tape on exports, meaning that “the vast majority” of “animals, animal products, plants, and plant products” will not be subjected to the “certificates or controls” currently required.
Starmer said this means “lower prices” and “more choice” in supermarkets.
The SPS agreement will cover “sanitary, phytosanitary, food safety and general consumer protection rules applicable to the production, distribution and consumption of agrifood products, the regulation of live animals and pesticides, the rules on organics as well as marketing standards applicable to certain sectors or products.”
The Conservatives voiced concerns around the UK becoming a “rule taker,” though Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds insisted that there would be a method by which, if there are new rules, “it would be Parliament who would decide whether or not we take that decision” and disputes would be subject to “international arbitration.”
The agreement makes clear that EU institutions will have the final say, stating that the SPS agreement “should be subject to a dispute resolution mechanism with an independent arbitration panel that ensures the Court of Justice of the European Union is the ultimate authority for all questions of European Union law.”
Business groups have welcomed the economic implications of the SPS agreement.
Tina McKenzie, policy chair of the Federation of Small Businesses says this constitutes “genuine progress” to benefit “small exports of plant and animal products,” and helps clear “the bottleneck at the border.”
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said this “will help keep costs down and create greater security in retail supply chains, ensuring the ongoing availability of key food imports for British shoppers,” as well as “supporting our competitiveness abroad.”
A deal on energy
Von der Leyen said “we have decided to explore the UK’s participation in the EU’s energy market,” adding that “a bigger market will also be good for lowering the energy prices and it will attract more private investment” because of “regulatory stability.”
The UK and EU will be linking their Emission Trading Systems.
While this isn’t a definitive plan, it is welcomed by industry bodies like Energy UK, whose chief executive, Dhara Vyas, said “the energy industry has long called for closer collaboration on carbon pricing and electricity trading, along with trade bodies and businesses in the wider economy.”
“Working together is the best way to ensure the UK and EU are investing in energy security and tackling carbon emissions quickly and at lower cost. This agreement will remove barriers to growth, lowering energy prices, and clearing the way for a shared future powered by clean energy” Vyas added.
Von der Leyen also wanted to “tackle the vast potential that the North Sea offers,” particularly when it comes to renewable energy.
However, shadow Energy Secretary Andrew Bowie slammed the arrangement, saying the “Emissions Trading Scheme Alignment agreement will see the UK sign up to a cap, and therefore carbon price, AT LEAST as high as the EUs (increasing costs to UK industry) …with an ‘appropriate financial contribution’ from UK in return.”
Security concerns
The Security and Defence Partnership sets out a framework for discussion on joint-approaches towards defence issues.
Von der Leyen said this is the “first step” in the UK’s participation in the EU’s SAFE defence scheme, which “opens the door towards joint procurement,” but a “second step” is needed in the agreement.
Mobility
The heavily-trailed youth mobility scheme, now rebranded as the “youth experience scheme” has been confirmed, though details need to be worked out.
John Dickie, chief executive of BusinessLDN, welcomes the youth experience scheme, “which modelling shows could deliver a significant shot in the arm to the economy.”
Starmer said holiday-makers will be able to benefit from the use of e-gates in EU countries as soon as this summer though again, the details are as yet unclear.
There are also discussions to add the UK to the Erasmus+ programme, which allows students to study abroad.
Labour’s manifesto pledge
Starmer is keen to impress that the Labour government delivered an agreement, where “other governments have talked and talked with great rhetoric about what they’re going to achieve, and achieved nothing.”
Dickie said that negotiations with the EU have long been “defined by performative politics rather than economics,” and that the government “ is right to take a pragmatic approach to resetting relations with our nearest trading partners that supports jobs and boosts growth.”
Starmer added that these talks are “not about reopening old wounds.”
For Starmer, the EU deal, which followed the bilateral trade deals with India and the US, constitutes a “huge vote of confidence in this country.”
While polling suggests the majority of UK voters support closer relations with the EU, the government has nevertheless triggered a furious Brexit-themes backlash from critics.