The UK and EU will on Monday sign a historic post-Brexit reset of relations after a “late breakthrough” in overnight talks, as Britain agreed to keep its fishing grounds open to EU boats for 12 more years.
The concession on fishing opened the way for a wide-ranging deal, to be unveiled at a London summit, including a security and defence pact and the removal of much red tape for British farm exports to the EU.
Kemi Badenoch, Conservative leader, said the deal was “very concerning”, noting the UK had previously offered in negotiations to extend fishing rights to boats from France and other coastal states for only four years.
But in return, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has secured a veterinary deal that will streamline British farming and fisheries exports to the country’s biggest market, without any time limit.
Economists at Aston University have estimated that UK agrifood exports to the EU could be boosted by more than 20 per cent as a result of a vet deal.
UK food and drink exports to the EU were £14bn in 2024, according to the Food and Drink Federation, the industry lobby. The UK fishing industry accounts for only about 0.03 per cent of Britain’s national output.
Monday’s deal is a much-sought economic prize of the “reset” talks, while the other centrepiece will be a security and defence partnership, opening the way for closer UK-EU co-operation on rearmament and military training.
Both sides were locked in intense haggling through the night over details of their revamped relationship, including on fisheries and food trade, along with wording about a proposed youth mobility scheme.
Starmer successfully argued that the two sides should carry on talking about the youth scheme — including the possibility of Britain returning to the Erasmus student exchange programme — rather than make concrete commitments at the summit at Lancaster House.
Despite UK hopes, Monday’s deal did not include provisions to allow British citizens to cross the border into the EU more quickly, through the use of passport e-gates.
The bloc has linked such an agreement, and new rules to facilitate tours by UK musicians, to progress on youth mobility that would enable young adults from member states to study and work in the UK and vice versa.
EU diplomats said that the final text said the two sides would “work towards” a deal on improved youth mobility, heralding months of negotiations. They described it as a disappointing outcome but acknowledged that Starmer was under huge domestic pressure on migration.
“There was a late breakthrough last night,” one British official said, after the UK and EU member states agreed a deal ahead of the first summit between the two sides since Brexit took effect in 2020.
Ambassadors from the 27 member states met early on Monday to sign off on the package, even as leaders of the EU institutions headed for London to formally agree it.
Fishing groups in the UK fear the 12-year fisheries deal risks becoming permanent and opposition Conservative politicians and the Eurosceptic press are already claiming that the sector has been sold out.
Jonathan Reynolds, UK business secretary, said the fishing sector would benefit from the new veterinary deal, arguing that it would help it sell fish and shellfish to the EU. “It’s not just about what you catch but who you’re going to sell it to,” he said.
UK government sources said ministers would on Monday announce a “Fishing & Coastal Growth Fund” worth £360mn to invest in coastal communities, in an attempt to contain a political backlash.
Starmer is also scheduled to sign the defence pact and a communiqué promising deeper economic co-operation during a two-hour meeting with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president António Costa.
That agreement will open the door to Britain gaining access to a €150bn EU weapons fund, although the precise details will be hammered out at a later stage.
The EU-UK summit is expected to emphasise a spirit of reconciliation, but the tense talks in Brussels on Sunday were a reminder that the relationship is now highly transactional.
Details of the EU-UK deal are very politically sensitive. Badenoch has said Starmer is about to “surrender” British interests, including agreeing to become a “rule-taker” from Brussels.
Britain has conceded that removing barriers to trade in foodstuffs will require the UK to “dynamically align”, or stay in step, with EU regulations as they change — and also make payments to the bloc to fund work on food and animal standards.
Details of the final text are due to be published at midday on Monday, but Starmer and his EU interlocutors will be at pain to stress areas of agreement rather than tensions exposed by the painful last-minute talks.
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