Starmer hails ‘common sense' EU deal as Brexiteers condemn ‘surrender'

Leader Live

19-05-2025

Under the deal struck with Brussels, more tourists will be able to use e-gates at airports in Europe, pet passports will be introduced for UK cats and dogs and businesses can sell burgers and sausages into the bloc again.
But the Prime Minister faced accusations of betraying Brexit over the extension of fishing rights for European vessels for a further 12 years and closer ties to EU rules.
Sir Keir met European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Antonio Costa at a summit in Lancaster House, London, to seal the deal.
The Prime Minister said: '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.
'We're ready to work with partners if it means we can improve people's lives here at home.
'So that's what this deal is all about – facing out into the world once again, in the great tradition of this nation.
'Building the relationships we choose, with the partners we choose, and closing deals in the national interest. Because that is what independent, sovereign nations do.'
Measures include:
– A 12-year extension of fishing arrangements when the current deal ends, allowing European vessels to operate in UK waters under the same terms until 2038.
– An open-ended new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement to slash red tape on food and drink exports and imports between the UK and EU.
– Some routine checks on plant and animal products will be removed completely and British burgers and sausages will once more be allowed into the EU.
– Linking UK and EU emissions-trading schemes which will mean British firms will not be hit by Brussels' carbon tax next year.
– A security and defence partnership will pave the way for UK arms firms to bid for work under the EU's proposed new £150 billion security action for Europe (Safe) fund.
– The UK and EU have agreed to co-operate on a 'youth experience scheme', but British officials insisted numbers would be capped and stays would be time-limited.
– British steel exports will be protected from new EU rules and restrictive tariffs, saving the beleaguered industry £25 million.
In striking the deal, the Prime Minister has had to balance the Government's desperate search for measures to grow the economy with the backlash he will inevitably face from Brexit-supporting voters and political opponents.
The deal requires 'dynamic alignment' – the UK following rules set by Brussels – in areas covering the SPS deal, emissions trading and potential co-operation in the electricity market.
That would mean the UK complying with rules over which, outside the EU, it would have a very limited influence.
The acceptance of some form of youth mobility programme, allowing young EU citizens to live, work and study in the UK and vice versa, has been politically controversial because of the Government's drive to cut net migration.
Officials insisted the scheme being proposed would not breach the Government's red line of not allowing the return of free movement, pointing to similar deals with Australia and New Zealand.
The 'reset' deal also respects the Government's other red lines of not returning to the customs union or single market, officials said.
But Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said: 'We're becoming a rule-taker from Brussels once again.
'And with no details on any cap or time limits on youth mobility, fears of free movement returning will only increase. This is very concerning.'
Shadow farming minister Robbie Moore accused Sir Keir of 'surrendering access to our British waters to European fishermen'.
'Whose side is he on? When Labour negotiates, Britain loses,' he added.
Reform UK's Nigel Farage said the 12-year deal on access for European boats 'will be the end of the fishing industry'.
Mr Farage's deputy leader Richard Tice said: 'Labour surrenders. Brussels bureaucrats win again.'