The United Kingdom and the European Union have reached a deal just hours before the start of the first post-Brexit UK-EU summit in London on Monday.
According to sources inside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office, negotiators from both sides reached a "breakthrough" late on Sunday evening, as talks on defence, trade, fishing rights and a possible youth mobility scheme carried on over the weekend.
Outstanding issues on fishing rights, one of the main sticking points, were solved at about 22:30 on Sunday night, government sources told the BBC.
The new UK-EU fishing deal is said to have been agreed for 12 years, it will expire on 30 June 2038. It is considerably longer than most expected.
Meanwhile, the agreed deal on agrifoods will see reduced checks on UK products going to the EU, and is not subject to a time limit. Details of the youth mobility scheme have still not been finalised, with fees for EU students studying at UK universities remain to be finalised.
Additionally, the EU and the UK are set to sign a defence agreement. This will allow the UK to access SAFE, a new European programme offering member states up to €150 billion in low-interest loans for joint defence projects
Great reset
Starmer is hosting EU leaders at 10 Downing Street in the British capital on Monday. It is part of a wider strategy of rapprochement amid new global security and trade challenges.
The meeting in London aims to agree on steps towards a closer relationship between the UK and the 27 Member States, five years after the bitter divorce. The two sides are set to finalise three agreements, signalling the EU and the UK’s intent to renew their relationship and move on from the UK's exit from the EU in 2020.
Since being elected last summer, the new Labour government has adopted a pragmatic-yet-cautious approach to Europe.
"When it is in our national interest, we align ourselves with common standards to facilitate trade and allow businesses (...) to start trading with the EU again," Minister for European Union Relations Nick Thomas-Symonds told the BBC on Sunday.
He said the government was "confident" that a deal to cut red tape on food exports and imports to and from the EU would be agreed. However, he added that "nothing is agreed, until everything is agreed," suggesting the deal was not yet finalised.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrives in Brussels to meet European Parliament President Roberta Metsola in October 2024. Credit: EU
Starmer ruled out rejoining the customs union and the single market, but suggested that the UK was prepared to align itself with EU regulations on food and agricultural products.
Downing Street argued that a so-called veterinary agreement would help British producers "who face red tape and checks when exporting to our closest and most important trading partner" – as well as bringing down prices.
EU diplomats in Brussels were seeking to ensure that Britain keeps its waters open to European fishermen in exchange for easing controls on certain food imports from the UK. The post-Brexit fishing agreement was set to expire in 2026.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage have described the deal as a "surrender", despite the contents of the agreement not yet being known.
