Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Progress at last
According to the Guardian, Number 10 Downing Street believe that this deal will add £9bn to the UK economy and lower food prices. That will have to be seen of course, but irrespective of the final impact, the deal does achieve some important changes to the way we interact with our neighbours.
Starmer claims that the deal will pave the way for the removal of checks on British food exports, allowing everything from the “great British burger to shellfish” to be sold again with ease in the EU:
The deal also holds out hope for a return of the UK to the Erasmus university exchange programme, and the creation of a youth mobility scheme that would allow young people to experience the EU through work, study, au pairing or travel.
The two sides will begin talks on the “youth experience scheme”, first reported in the Guardian, which could mirror existing schemes the UK has with countries such as Australia and New Zealand.
The UK said it would be “capped and time-limited”, though there is no agreement yet from the EU on the details.
Central to the agreement is the new agrifoods deal, known as an SPS agreement, which removes red tape on food and drink exports, removing some routine checks on animal and plant products completely. In return, the UK will accept some dynamic alignment on EU food standards and a role for the European court of justice in policing the deal.
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Another agreement reached before the Lancaster House summit will be on linking emissions trading, which the UK said would avoid businesses being hit by the EU’s carbon tax due to come in next year.
The deal also protects British steel imports from new EU tariffs through a bespoke arrangement, saving about £25m a year.
British holidaymakers will also be able to use European gates at airports, ending long holiday queues to use the gates for non-European citizens, and pet passports will be introduced to eliminate the need for animal health checks on each trip.
The UK will also now enter formal talks on a number of key topics, including a youth mobility deal, to grant visas for younger Britons and Europeans as well as re-entry to the Erasmus scheme.
There will be future talks, too, on access to the EU facial recognition data, a key ask of Starmer as a way of tackling cross-border crime and people-trafficking gangs.
But there will be no immediate entry for the UK to the EU’s €150bn (£126bn) defence fund to allow UK arms companies to bid for contracts – though the UK said the deal struck on Monday would pave the way for that to happen in the coming months.
Importantly, this agreement will better regularise the movement of goods between the British mainland and Northern Ireland, effectively removing most of the messy restrictions imposed as part of Boris Johnson's negotiated deal and helping to strengthen the Good Friday Agreement.
The only problem with this deal is that it does not go far enough in repairing the damage caused by Farage and his Brexit fellow travellers. The deal adds just £9bn to UK national income by 2040, or around 0.2% of GDP, this compares with the loss to GDP caused by Brexit estimated at 20 times that, or 4% of GDP, by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Update: there is a useful summary of the deal here.
