Youth mobility, defence and £25bn in trade: Everything we know about the UK-EU ‘Brexit reset' talks

Independent

18-05-2025

Sir Keir Starmer faces one of the biggest days of his premiership on Monday, when he is expected to unveil his plans for Britain's post-Brexit reset deal towards closer ties with the EU.
Although officials were still locked in negotiations on Sunday night, the prime minister is hopeful of a deal to rebuild ties with the bloc after years of tension and mistrust under the Conservatives.
Sir Keir has made the reset a centrepiece of his administration, but has been keen to stress that its scope will be limited while the Brexit vote will be respected.
So when European Commission president Ursula Von Der Leyen and European Council president Antonio Costa appear at the first EU and UK bilateral summit since Brexit on Monday afternoon, he will be keen to show progress has been made.
It is being seen more as a jumping off point for further negotiations, with both sides agreeing in principle where they would like closer ties.
Some issues will prove thornier than others, and with the prime minister under fire over his approach to immigration, The Independent has looked at what issues are on the table in Monday's reset.
The biggest thing on the agenda is likely to be the announcement of a planned youth visa scheme - which would let under-30s study, live and work between Britain and the continent for a number of years.
Exactly how many years, and what number the scheme is capped at, will prove controversial, with the Home Office pushing back on measures that will boost spiralling migration figures the government is desperately trying to cut.
But the scheme has been a key ask of European countries, who believe it will benefit both sides, and is being seen as a test of how serious Sir Keir is about resetting ties after years of acrimony under the Conservatives.
Defence and security
Both Britain and Brussels have expressed an interest in strengthening cooperation on defence and security.
A pact would allow British firms to access a major European defence fund - under which EU countries will spend 150bn euros buying air defence systems, drones and other military equipment - set up in response to US President Donald Trump 's apparent reluctance to guarantee the continent's security.
It would build on a bilateral pact struck between the UK and Germany, under which the Luftwaffe is operating from a base.
There are reports that some EU countries, including France, want to link wider talks - including around a defence pact - to fishing in a bid to pressure Britain into agreeing a deal.
France and other European countries are seeking continued access to British fishing waters after June 2026, rather than having to renegotiate quotas every year.
The fishing industry is relatively small in the context of the post-Brexit reset, but has taken on outsized influence in talks.
Europe minister Nick Thomas-Symonds hinted Britain was prepared to move towards the EU's position and allow ongoing access.
Downing Street pointed out that European fishers will already have access to British waters under the current deal beyond 2026, hinting that the terms of access are up for renegotiation in the reset. But the PM's official spokesman has stressed British fishermen would be protected.
Food standards
One of Labour 's manifesto pledges was to strike a veterinary agreement to cut unnecessary border checks and bring down the cost of food for British consumers.
The promised agreement on food and agricultural standards, or sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement, would see Britain agree to European food rules in order to reduce red tape for exporters and cut checks on food between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
European trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič has said an SPS agreement would require Britain accepting dynamic alignment with EU rules - likely to spark uproar among Brexiteers.
Easing some trade barriers
Removing trade barriers on goods, including food and drink and electrical items, could result in a 2.2 per cent uplift in gross domestic product in the long run, boosting the economic growth the prime minister so desperately wants to deliver by nearly £25bn a year, according to analysis shared exclusively with The Independent.
From the £24.8bn export boost for the UK estimated by Frontier Economics, in a report commissioned by pro-EU group Best for Britain, farm food exports alone could see a £3.2bn increase.
The EU, meanwhile, would also benefit, with a £22.4bn boost to exports in goods and services from a closer agreement, selling £5bn more in agricultural products.
And a separate assessment by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) warns that a failure to land a deal for easier trading could lead to a 2.7 per cent drop in exports by 2027, costing the UK economy almost £30bn.
Migration
The UK-EU summit will also see both sides discuss migration, with Britain hoping Europe will help Sir Keir's ambition of tackling the people smuggling gangs transporting migrants across the English Channel.
One way the EU could help would be agreeing a returns deal with Britain, whereby migrants who arrive in the UK could be returned to France or the continent, with the UK resettling migrants from the EU in return.
Labour also hopes to gain access to European crime and illegal migration data to go after the gangs, though suffered a blow when this was reportedly rejected by the EU.
Labour also promised at the election to help touring artists, whose lives have been blighted by Brexit, access the continent more easily.
They can currently only work for 90 out of every 180 days on the continent, making longer tours more difficult, while prohibitive amounts of paperwork and transport issues has made it more time-consuming and less profitable.
But EU experts have said a deal to ease restrictions on touring artists could be thornier as it would require a state-by-state rewrite of customs rules around how artists travel between countries.
Passport queues
British tourists arriving in Europe could be able to use EU passport gates at airports once again under Sir Keir's reset deal.
The UK's lead negotiator and EU minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said the government was pushing for measures to speed up the process, saying it would give people 'more time to spend on holiday or work trips… doing what you want, not being stuck in queues'.
Mutual recognition
Campaigners have consistently called for the mutual recognition of qualifications between the UK and EU, and Labour's manifesto promised to deliver it.
It would allow professionals qualified in the UK to practice in the EU and vice versa, without having to requalify and with minimal additional bureaucracy. It is not known which jobs could benefit but the Law Society has already hailed the opportunity for UK lawyers to learn and practice in the EU, while others that could be covered could include accountants and architects.
The existing Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), which underpins Britain's post-Brexit trading relationship with the EU, allows for mutual recognition deals to be negotiated sector by sector, so negotiators could settle on this as an initial approach, in what would be a boost for firms in Britain's key services sector.
Energy cooperation
The government is also looking at linking Britain and the EU's emissions trading systems, under which companies can buy and sell permits for their level of carbon emissions.
Economists have said that linking the two schemes would expand the liquidity of permits being traded in both and boost the net zero transmission.
It could also avoid fresh border friction if the EU imposed a tax on carbon-intensive imports such as steel, cement and fertiliser, which MPs had raised concerns about.
What is not in Sir Keir's plans?
Labour has repeatedly stressed its red lines throughout talks with Britain's European counterparts.
There will be no return to the European single market, under which goods can be traded freely between countries in the bloc, the customs union, which standardises tariffs for non-member countries, or freedom of movement, under which people were allowed to travel and live across member states. The red lines are Labour's bid to head off allegations that the party is seeking to betray Brexit.
It comes after the PM stressed the need to slash net migration - even taking on his own party over the issue. And the final shape of any youth mobility scheme will be a prime target for political attacks on Labour and Sir Keir.
Any acceptance of dynamic alignment with EU rules will also see Sir Keir facing allegations he has allowed Britain to again become a 'rule taker' not a 'rule maker', a key argument for Brexit in the referendum.