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British Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer has hailed a “new era” with the European Union as he unveiled a post-Brexit “reset” deal on Monday. Yet opponents have accused the left-wing government of “surrendering” to Brussels on key areas, including granting the bloc access to UK fishing waters for over a decade.
In his third major deal this month, after inking agreements with India and the United States, Prime Minister Starmer boasted that he has “rolled up my sleeves to deliver for British people, British jobs, and British businesses.”
The wide-ranging EU deal unveiled by the anti-Brexit PM will see the UK align with European standards on animal welfare and food in exchange for reducing the punitive import checks on British food products sold in Europe. However, London also agreed to send British taxpayer money to the EU as part of the deal. While no specific figures were released, The Times reports that it will be “an appropriate financial contribution from the United Kingdom”.
Additionally, the Labour government was accused of selling out British fishermen by giving Europeans access to UK waters for the next 12 years. According to the British press, this was a last-minute demand from Brussels over the weekend after the government announced that an EU deal would be forthcoming, sparking accusations that Starmer bent to hardball tactics for the sake of political expediency to the detriment of a key British industry. The government has attempted to allay fears, by announcing a £360 million coastal investment fund.
However, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage lamented that the deal would “be the end of the fishing industry”. Farge’s deputy, MP Richard Tice, added: “Starmer has surrendered — lock, stock and barrel. He’s waved the white flag and kissed goodbye to UK fishing.
“And my constituents in Boston & Skegness will be raging mad this morning if this news is true. It’s unbelievable. The EU apparently asked for four or five years, and Starmer has surrendered about 12 years. Mind boggling.”
The deal will also likely see the UK sign back up to a form of the EU’s ‘Youth Mobility Scheme’, which would allow 18 to 30-year-old EU migrants to live and work in Britain for up to three years. While the deal essentially punted on the issue, as London is pushing for a hard cap on entries per year, critics have warned that it will further disadvantage native young people in Britain, despite Starmer’s vow to protect them from unfettered mass migration.
In turn, the EU has said that it will reduce border checks for British tourists and allow them to use “e-gates” to speed up passport checks like other European travellers after new biometric systems come into place later this year. However, while Brussels will lift the restriction, it remains to be seen if individual member states will follow suit.
The EU has also said that it will “deepen information sharing” on illegal migration with the UK. Yet, it remains to be seen if this will include Brussels’ biometric database on asylum seekers. There appears to be little progress on striking a deal for Britain to send illegal migrants back to the bloc, the majority of which cross the English Channel from the beaches of France.
Meanwhile, the two sides also agreed to greater alignment on defence, meaning that British troops could be deployed alongside their European counterparts. The issue has come to the fore amid efforts led by French President Emmanuel Macron and Starmer to deploy a “coalition of the willing” pan-European military force to Ukraine as a supposed peacekeeping force should an armistice be agreed to by Kyiv and Moscow. Critics have warned that this could be laying the groundwork for the formation of a fully fledged EU Army.
Hailing the deal, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said: “We are now turning the page and opening a new chapter, a new chapter that is so important in these times because we see the rise of geopolitical tensions but we are like-minded, we share the same values.”
Prime Minister Starmer added: “In uncertain times and a new era for defence, security and trade we will do that by strengthening our relationships with allies around the world, including of course with Europe. That is what today is all about, moving on from stale old debates, looking forward, not backwards, focusing on what we can do together to deliver in the national interest.”
Former Conservative cabinet minister Sir Simon Clarke criticised the deal as a “a triumph of elite concerns – youth mobility, 5 minutes quicker through the airport in Tuscany in summer – over those of working class Britain.”
Sir Simon said that elites in London will not have to face the consequences of opening up the door to more EU migrant labour or the impact of “fishing grounds being hoovered up by French or Spanish super trawlers”. The former Conservative MP went on to warn that by essentially accepting EU standards and regulations, the deal would also lay the groundwork for future arguments for the UK to rejoin the bloc.
The deal and its ramifications will likely serve as a major campaign issue going forward, with Brexit leader Nigel Farage vowing to overturn the agreement if he is elected as the next prime minister.
“The Prime Minister thinks he’ll get away with it but he perhaps underestimates how strong Brexit feeling still is in the Red Wall,” Mr Farage said over the weekend. “The whole thing is an abject surrender from Starmer and politically, something he will come to regret.”
