EU deal puts Britain 'back on the world stage', PM says

Sir Keir Starmer turned a page” on Britain’s relations with the EU yesterday as his landmark Brexit reset deal ushered ina new era” of cooperation and friendship.

- DAVID MADDOX POLITICAL EDITOR

A clearly jubilant prime minister said the deal – his third major international agreement this month, following trade deals with India and the United States – would be a “win-win” for both sides and showed Britain is “back on the world stage”.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen described it as a “historic moment” as she appeared alongside the PM at a press conference in London, just hours after frantic negotiations concluded to get the deal over the line.

“We are turning a page,” she said. “We are opening a new chapter in our unique relationship.”

The agreement, which officials claim will boost the UK economy by £9bn by 2040, appears to be a major coup for the Labour leader, with “the pragmatic and positive” elements of removing red tape and border checks lauded by some. However, the PM faced accusations of “surrender” on fishing, alongside a failure to get agreements on defence and youth mobility.

The deal represents the first serious attempt to fix the harms caused by Brexit after Boris Johnson’s flawed deal in late 2019, with which Rishi Sunak tinkered in the Windsor Framework in 2023.

The key elements of the deal – which still has significant areas to be finalised – include:

• British tourists will be allowed to use fast-track e-gates at European airports, meaning they will no longer be required to join lengthy queues at borders

• A 12-year extension of an agreement for EU trawlers to access UK waters until 2038

• The scrapping of some routine checks on plant and animal products, meaning British burgers and sausages will once more be allowed into the EU

• A new defence agreement, although UK defence firms will still have to wait for access to the €150bn (£126bn) EU defence procurement scheme

• An open-ended agreement to slash red tape on food and drink exports and imports between the UK and the EU