'Looking forward to tomorrow': Starmer hails ‘new era’ with EU as he defends post-Brexit deal against fishing backlash
20 May 2025, 06:02 | Updated: 20 May 2025, 08:36
The UK and EU are “looking forward to tomorrow” and not re-litigating Brexit, Sir Keir Starmer said, as he defended a new trade deal with Brussels.
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The Prime Minister hailed his deal with the bloc, set out at a Monday summit in London, as a “win-win” for both parties, which would be the start of a “new era” in the UK-EU relationship.
The wide-ranging deal will allow more British travellers to use passport e-gates when going on holiday to Europe, while farmers will get swifter, easier access to trade on the continent as a result of an agreement on animal and plant product standards.
A “youth experience scheme” allowing young Britons to study and live in Europe, and a new security and defence partnership were also agreed.
The Government claimed the post-Brexit “reset” will cut red tape for travellers and businesses, boosting the economy by £9 billion by 2040.
But it has been met with criticism after agreeing to grant European fishing trawlers a further 12 years’ access to British waters.
Speaking in the garden of Downing Street, where he welcomed UK and EU businesses on Monday evening, the Prime Minister insisted the deal was “good for bills, good for jobs, good for borders”.
He also hailed a “mood change” in the relationship with the bloc, adding: “The EU and the UK wanting to work together, all of us prepared to say let yesterday be yesterday, we are looking forward to tomorrow.
“We are not going to litigate old arguments, we are going to go forward in the spirit of what we do together, we do better.”
Read more: Brexiteer anger at Keir Starmer's 'EU reset' is 'ludicrous and unpatriotic', says Andrew Marr
Angry fishermen hit out over EU ‘reset’ deal as they raise fears over Britain’s fishing industry
The PM hit out at the “myth that next year everybody was free to do what they like” if he had not extended the fishing deal with the EU.
Sir Keir was earlier accused by the Conservatives of having “surrendered” many of the gains they negotiated post-Brexit.
Kemi Badenoch added: “This deal will mean Britain becoming a rule-taker, accepting dynamic alignment, giving up fishing rights and paying new money to the EU.”
“Nobody has lost more than the fishermen,” as a result of the deal she also told reporters.
Reform UK’s Nigel Farage elsewhere warned the 12-year fishing deal would be “the end of the fishing industry”.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the BBC that the UK was in a “better place than any country in the world” on trade.
“The first deal and the best deal so far with the US, we’ve got the best deal with the EU for any country outside the EU, and we’ve got the best trade agreement with India,” she said.
“Not only are these important in their own right, but it also shows that Britain now is the place for investment and business, because we’ve got preferential deals with the biggest economies around the world.”
Other measures covered in the UK-EU deal include:
– British burgers and sausages will once more be allowed into the EU, and some routine checks on plant and animal products will be removed completely.
– Linking UK and EU emissions-trading schemes, which will mean British firms will not be hit by Brussels’s carbon tax next year.
– A commitment to work towards the UK associating with the Erasmus+ student exchange programme.
– British steel exports will be protected from new EU rules and restrictive tariffs, saving the beleaguered industry £25 million.
