The United Kingdom and the European Union have agreed to a landmark deal aimed at \u201cresetting\u201d their post-Brexit relationship, easing restrictions on travel and work for hundreds of millions of people on the continent. <\/p>\n
The pact, agreed at a summit in London on Monday, followed months of negotiations between Downing Street and Brussels. It includes agreements on defense, migration, work and travel \u2014 and leaders on each side of the Channel will hope it leaves behind years\u2019 worth of tensions. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a historic moment,\u201d EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer as they unveiled the deal on Monday. \u201cWe\u2019re turning a page. We\u2019re opening a new chapter in our unique relationship.\u201d <\/strong> <\/p>\n \u201cBritain is back on the world stage,\u201d Starmer added following the meetings at Lancaster House. <\/p>\n But the deal has already threatened to open old wounds; Starmer has been criticized by leaders on Britain\u2019s resurgent populist right, who have claimed the deal weakens the UK\u2019s sovereignty. <\/p>\n Here\u2019s what you need to know. <\/p>\n The two sides have struck a deal to ease trade between their two markets \u2014 one of the most contentious areas of the long-running Brexit negotiations. <\/p>\n Downing Street announced in a statement that it has agreed to reduce the \u201cred tape\u201d currently burdening British businesses exporting food and drink to the bloc on an indefinite basis. Part of that agreement will include the complete removal of some routine checks on animal and plant products, it said. <\/p>\n Starmer\u2019s office added that it hoped the changes would ultimately \u201clower food prices and increase choice on supermarket shelves\u201d but was resolute that they do not cross certain \u201cred lines\u201d central to the government\u2019s vision of Brexit, including remaining outside of the EU\u2019s single market and customs union. <\/p>\n The trade partners have decided to move toward \u201ca common sanitary and phytosanitary area,\u201d von der Leyen told reporters on Monday. \u201cThat means more certainty, more stability for farmers and food producers, and fishermen and fisherwoman, on both sides of the Channel.\u201d <\/p>\n In any case, changes to the trading rules between the two sides are significant: The EU is the UK\u2019s largest trading partner, with the bloc accounting for 41% of Britain\u2019s exports and more than half of its imports last year, according to official figures covering both goods and services. The UK is also a top trading partner for Brussels, and was the second-largest destination for EU goods exports in 2024, Eurostat data shows. <\/p>\n The deal also included commitments to give the EU fishing boats access to British waters for a further 12 years beyond the current agreement, which is set to expire next year. Europe will also open up its electricity market to the UK, a move that von der Leyen praised as a step toward boosting energy security and lowering prices. <\/p>\n The agreement comes as US President Donald Trump\u2019s barrage of tariffs have wreaked havoc on the global trading order. In a joint statement released Monday, the EU and UK said they shared a \u201ccommitment to free, sustainable, fair and open trade.\u201d <\/p>\n The two sides have worked increasingly closely on defense since Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, and that unity has only grown since the Trump administration threatened to pull its security guarantees for Europe and leave Kyiv to fend for itself against Moscow. <\/p>\n It made defense one of the least controversial aspects of the negotiations, and Monday\u2019s deal saw a formal handshake on a new UK-EU defense partnership. The UK now will gain access to a Europe-wide defense program, allowing British companies to bid for security contracts alongside European rivals. <\/p>\n \u201cThis joint procurement will increase our readiness, will close military gaps that we have,\u201d von der Leyen said. <\/p>\n Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have emerged as the leading voices advocating for Kyiv on the global stage, and the two leaders have pushed their European counterparts to boost military spending and join a European bulwark against Moscow\u2019s advances. <\/p>\n The two sides will work toward a youth mobility scheme that will allow under-30s to travel and work between the UK and Europe. Starmer has taken pains to insist there is no return to full freedom of movement, a benefit Britons enjoyed when it was a member of the EU, but European officials have stressed that a deal would prove mutually beneficial. <\/p>\n British students are also set to once again have access to Europe\u2019s Erasmus scheme, which allows them to study abroad in other European countries. The two sides agreed to find an agreement on that scheme. \u201cThis will allow the next generation to once again live and study in each other\u2019s countries. This will build friendships that will last a lifetime,\u201d von der Leyen said. <\/p>\n And one visible impact of Brexit will disappear: Britons will now be able to use e-gates at European airports when they travel on vacation, joining EU passport-holders in the streamlined queues. <\/p>\n Starmer is striking a deal in a unique political environment. Public sentiment is broadly behind him; Britons increasingly regret the decision to leave the EU, and prize an agreement with the bloc over a similar deal with the US, opinion polling suggests. But the country remains weary of the heated, years-long arguments that engulfed Westminster after the 2016 Brexit vote, and Downing Street is treading carefully to avoid re-opening those wounds. <\/p>\n It may be wishful thinking. The prime minister, whose government is unpopular as it approaches one year in office, is also wary of the threat from the right. The populist Reform UK party is leading opinion polls, and its leader Nigel Farage \u2014 the chief architect of the Brexit movement \u2014 has already sought to frame Monday\u2019s deal as a surrender to Brussels. <\/p>\n A decision to extend the EU\u2019s favorable access to British fishing waters until 2038 \u2014 12 years longer than the current agreement \u2014 provides Farage and other critics ample bait. \u201cWe\u2019re becoming a rule-taker from Brussels once again,\u201d Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch complained. <\/p>\n But Starmer will be desperate to set another narrative: that Monday\u2019s deal finally closes a contentious chapter in British politics. \u201cIt\u2019s time to look forward,\u201d he said. \u201cTo move on from the stale old debates and political fights to find common sense, practical solutions which get the best for the British people.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The United Kingdom and the European Union have agreed to a landmark deal aimed at \u201cresetting\u201d their post-Brexit relationship, easing restrictions on travel and work for hundreds of millions of people on the continent. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7896,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Slashing \u2018red tape\u2019 for trade<\/h2>\n
A new defense pact<\/h2>\n
What will change for Brits and Europeans?<\/h2>\n
Will the deal open old wounds?<\/h2>\n