What's in the deal agreed at the UK-EU Summit?
The UK and EU have struck a new deal aimed at fixing post-Brexit friction. From smoother travel and youth mobility to cheaper food, defence cooperation and reduced barriers for businesses, some changes will kick in quickly, while others require further negotiation. The deal marks the first step towards a more practical partnership - here's what's in it.
Travel
eGates: British passport holders will be able to use eGates in Europe, skipping the long queues at border control that have marked the start of British holidaymakers' travels since Brexit.
Pet passports: Want to take your cat or dog on holiday to the EU? That'll be much easier thanks to the return of 'pet passports', eliminating the need for expensive animal health certificates for every trip.
Youth mobility: The UK and EU have agreed to work towards a balanced youth mobility scheme, including work, study, travel, au-pairing and volunteering. The details of the scheme are still to be agreed, but visas are expected to be time-limited and numbers capped. Two thirds of Brits support a UK-EU youth mobility scheme, including a majority in every constituency, with only 18% opposed.
Erasmus+: UK participation in the EU-wide student exchange programme Erasmus+ will be explored, but the UK's financial contribution to the scheme is still to be agreed. Regaining access to Erasmus+ would broaden opportunities for British students as well as boosting economic activity in the UK's university towns and cities.
Working in Europe
Cultural and artistic exchange: The 2024 Labour manifesto committed to negotiating visas for touring artists, after our research revealed a sharp decline in the number of British musicians playing European festivals post-Brexit. The new deal commits to 'supporting' travel and cultural exchange, though without any firm commitments to areas such as visa waivers for touring artists, or pain points for performers such as cabotage (the transportation of equipment) and carnets (customs documents for equipment).
Business travellers and professional qualifications: Working cross-border since Brexit has been a struggle in sectors such as architecture, accounting and engineering, as the UK and EU have not formally recognised each other's professional qualifications. The two sides have agreed to try and resolve this, as well as making it easier for people to organise temporary stays for business purposes. Three quarters of Brits support making it easier for professionals to work more easily across the UK and EU, with only 9% opposed.
Cheaper food and more choice
Red tape on food and drink: The two sides have committed to working towards a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement, with the UK maintaining the same high standards as the EU on food, drink, animals and plants in a process known as 'dynamic alignment'. 53% of Brits support agreeing to the same animal and plant health rules as the EU, with only 21% opposed. Such a deal will:
Protect high food standards in the UK
Increase choice on supermarket shelves
Reduce food prices by cutting paperwork from border checks
Help British producers sell products like burgers and sausages in Europe more easily
Cut down wastage from unnecessary delays and paperwork errors
Reduce trade frictions between Britain and Northern Ireland
Provide regulatory certainty, critical for attracting business investment
Making us safer
Defence industry jobs: The most-trailed part of the UK-EU Summit, the creation of a new Security and Defence Partnership enables the UK defence industry to participate in the EU's plan for a €150 billion defence fund known as Security Action for Europe (SAFE), supporting thousands of jobs in the British defence industry. 69% of Brits support a new defence and security pact with the EU, with only 13% opposed.
Beyond this, the agreement is relatively broad, covering deeper cooperation on Ukraine support; space security; peacebuilding and crisis management; cyber issues; critical infrastructure resilience; regular high-level dialogues; and countering hybrid threats.
Health and security: The UK and EU have agreed to work more closely on accident investigations and reporting (particularly in the maritime sector), as well as undertaking joint work on emerging health threats and pandemic preparedness - an area that remains front of mind just five years after the start of the Covid pandemic.
Lower energy prices
Energy cooperation: Linking the UK's and EU's emissions trading schemes - a move supported by 46% of Brits - will enable mutual exemptions, saving British businesses £800 million in carbon taxes. The move will also cut down paperwork and costs for industries critical for housing and infrastructure, create certainty for business investment, and prevent carbon-intensive industries being offshored to avoid decarbonisation efforts.
The two sides are also exploring the UK's participation in the EU internal electricity market, which would drive down energy costs for consumers.
Catching criminals
Intelligence sharing: The loss of access to Europol was a major loss to crime-fighting efforts in the UK after Brexit, with British police losing out on important intelligence sharing. This will begin to be rectified under the new arrangements, with deeper cooperation including UK access to EU facial images data to help catch dangerous criminals.
Drugs threats: To tackle drugs risks and threats, the UK will exchange data with the EU Drugs Agency.
Border control: The UK and EU have committed to deepening collaboration on irregular migration, people smuggling and external border control. The two sides will share best practices on returns, deterrence mechanisms and visa abuse.
Protecting British jobs
Steel: British steel exports will be protected from new EU rules and tariffs, which will save the industry £25 million a year.
Fishing: The current fishing deal, agreed by Boris Johnson's government in 2020, will continue for 12 years with no increase in fish quotas. Under the current deal, EU fishers can access UK waters but they must have a valid licence, and are subject to annual negotiations on access and the share of stock. Alongside this, the UK government has announced a £360 million investment into the sector; and businesses will benefit from dramatically reduced paperwork when exporting their catch to the EU.
The UK-EU agreement and relationship reset to date includes 42 policy points included in our roadmap to fix the Brexit deal, 'Trading Our Way to Prosperity' first published by the UK Trade and Business Commission in 2023. See the full list of 114 fixes to our relationship with Europe.
