The UK and the European Union cut groundbreaking transactions on Monday on fisheries, trade and security.
The deal was finalised hours before the high-level British EU summit in London, which attempts to reset relations between the UK and post-Brexit Europe.
What is the UK and EU summit?
On Monday, British Prime Minister Kiel Starmer held London’s first British EU summit since Brexit. High-ranking EU officials, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, attended the summit.
Brexit stands for “UK Exit,” which refers to the withdrawal of the UK from the trade bloc of 28 countries at the time. In June 2016, voters were asked if the UK should leave the EU, and a referendum was held that 52% of voters preferred to withdraw. The official exit took place in January 2020. In the same year, Brexit’s contract with the EU was struck by the Conservative Party, led by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The EU is the UK’s largest trading partner. Since Brexit, the UK has seen a 21% drop in exports to the EU and 7% drop in imports from member countries, according to a statement from Starmer’s Office on Monday.
What does the transaction involve?
The transaction covers contracts in several sectors, including:
fishing
Before Brexit, EU countries were able to fish in British waters, allowing British ships to hunt fish in other European waters. However, the general EU policy had an allocation as to how many fish could be caught in any country’s waters to prevent overfishing.
Based on the 2020 post-Brexit deal, the EU has agreed to gradually reduce its fishing quota in UK waters by 2026.
The deal, announced Monday, maintains a 25% quota cut, but EU boat access extends access to British waters until 2038.
Starmer’s Office has also announced a £360 million (approximately $481 million) fund to invest in coastal communities. The money will be “training to stimulate the seafarer community, support tourism, and support funding to boost the workforce and support the export of seafood, towards new technologies and equipment to modernize the fleet.”
Agriculture and food exports
The EU has agreed to a transaction that simplifies checking of Sanitary and Plants (SPS) products. SPS products include agricultural products, food and animals. This means that some routine boundary checks of plant and animal products are dropped on both sides.
safety
In an X post, Starmer said the EU and the UK will work closely with security issues by sharing intelligence. This includes sharing facial recognition data.
Holiday British people can use electronic gates, which are auto-entered and exit gates, at more European airports, to avoid long queues at immigration counters.
Carbon Tax
The UK and the EU link the trading systems in which carbon credits were sold and purchased (trading systems in which carbon credits were sold and purchased) to avoid carbon taxes.
“Only the measurements that combine and link SPS and emissions trading systems are set to add nearly £9 billion [$12bn] By 2040, it has significantly increased growth in the UK economy,” a statement from 10 Downing Street said on Monday.
Young people’s mobility
The EU and the UK have agreed to cooperate in a youth mobility scheme that allows young people under the age of 30 from the UK and the EU to live and work on each other’s territory for a limited period of time. According to Starmer’s Office, such a scheme would be a “caped time limit.”
However, details about the program have not been announced yet.
What priorities did you say about this transaction?
Starmer posted a 10-point thread on his X account on Monday, highlighting multiple ways that “dealing with the EU will benefit the UK.” He argued that the transaction would lower food prices by easing agricultural trade with the EU. Reduce your energy bills. Enhance border security. Reduces waiting times at the airport. Ensure a “safer UK” with more work in the defense industry. Save UK businesses from carbon tax. Save the UK’s steel industry. Fighting terrorism and organized crime through shared intelligence.
“We rolled up the sleeves and delivered what the last government couldn’t do,” Starmer wrote.
What is your response to the transaction?
Conservative leader Kemi Badenok has expressed concerns about the X-Post deal, and has been a long-term hit, especially for EU fishing boats that have access to British waters. “We’ve become rule takers again from Brussels, and the fear of a free-to-mobility return will only increase, as there are no details about caps or time limits on youth mobility, which is very concerning.”
12 years of access to British waters is three times longer than the government wanted.
We are once again becoming rule takers from Brussels.
Also, there is no details about the cap or time limits for youth mobility, so the fear of a return to free movement is only increased.
This is very concerning. https://t.co/qzocw3qowu
– Kemi Badenoch (@kemibadenoch) May 19, 2025
Nigel Farage, leader of the far-right reform British party, posted on X about the contract, saying, “If it’s the end of the fishing industry.”
If true, that would be the end of the fishing industry. https://t.co/juih7zlcpj
– Nigel Farage MP (@nigel_farage) May 19, 2025
According to a statement from Elspeth Macdonald, SFF CEO, the Scottish Federation of Fishermen (SFF) considered it a “horror show for Scottish fishermen.” McDonald said the new deal was “a lot worse than Boris Johnson’s Brexit agreement,” adding that “that underscores the utter indifference of Britain’s political establishment to the interests of the fisheries sector.”
“An attempt by the UK or the EU to portray the New Deal as a continuation of existing arrangements would be a lie,” said a statement posted on the SFF website.
Both the Conservative Party and the Reformed Britain have previously demanded more control over the UK in its waters. But Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davy called for conservative leaders to criticize the deal. “This morning’s social media is the apocalypse of dinosaur Tory politicians and right-wing hanger zombie.
Social media this morning is the apocalypse of dinosaur Tory politicians and right-wing hanger zombie sung by hankering after the nasty Brexit war of the past decade. Our country has moved ahead!
– Ed Davy (@edwardjdavey) May 19, 2025
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