Brussels would seem unwilling to start talks with Starmer before these ground rules are agreed upon. Ever since the Labour leader got to Downing Street, he’s been making overtures to the EU on resetting the post-Brexit relationship.
Renegotiating the so-called Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), would be the most concrete part of that. The first review of the deal, struck by Conservative former PM Boris Johnson, is coming up in 2026.
For fishing rights, “the maintenance of the status quo is essential for member states,” the document states, according to The Times.
More broadly on a deal involving food trade, the U.K. would have to turn all the EU’s rules on production and processing safety into British law. Pushing for having Brussels recognize British rules as “equivalent” — and therefore good enough — would not fly, the document states, according to the report.
Finally, the EU wants to push London for a youth mobility scheme akin to the Erasmus exchange program, which is one of the flagship policies in the bloc, according to the report. Previous British governments rejected this for the perceived uptick in migration.
