UK and EU forge new post-Brexit deal on fishing, security and Ukraine

Prime Minister Keir Starmer heralded a deal to strengthen post-Brexit relations with the European Union after opposition politicians criticised a late climbdown by UK negotiators over fishing rights.

The reciprocal rights give European fishing crews access to UK waters until 2038 and could be politically risky for the ruling Labour Party, which faces an electoral threat from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. In return, Britain has unlocked agreements on food and agricultural standards to remove the vast majority of border checks with the EU, as well as on energy cooperation.

“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,” Starmer said on Monday, while hosting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at Lancaster House in London.

The Labour government has pledged to improve Britain’s anaemic levels of growth and sees lower trade barriers with the EU as crucial for exporters. It said the EU deal would add around £9 billion (US$12 billion) to GDP by 2040, around 0.2 per cent to the level of output.

However, fishing is a totemic issue in the UK despite making up just 0.04 per cent of GDP, and Starmer’s deal risks reigniting tensions last seen during Brexit negotiations. “12 years access to British waters is three times longer than the government wanted,” Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch wrote on social media, referring to earlier reports of a four-year extension. “We’re becoming a rule-taker from Brussels once again.”

Farage, meanwhile, told Bloomberg News the fishing deal “will be the end of the industry.” On the other side of the debate, Stuart Rose – a veteran retail industry boss and Conservative peer who campaigned against Brexit – said it was “pathetic” that some Tories were calling the deal a British surrender.