Key events
Starmer rejects claim he has sold out fishing sector, saying deal is ‘good for fishing’
UK and EU agree to hold regular summits every year
Starmer, von der Leyen and Costa hold press conference
UK-EU summit deal published
Meat industry welcomes deal, saying Labour has achieved ‘what previous government promised originally but didn’t deliver’
Starmer says he wants to move on ‘from stale old debates’ of Brexit with EU deal
Deal with EU will make food cheaper and add £9bn to UK economy, says No 10
Youth mobility scheme with EU to be called ‘youth experience scheme’, leak suggests
Starmer’s deal ‘far worse than Boris Johnson’s’ for fishing sector, says Scottish Fishermen’s Federation
Ed Davey welcomes deal and urges Starmer to ignore ‘naysayers and dinosaurs’ in Reform UK and Tory party
Tory claims about EU deal being ‘surrender’ are ‘nonsense’, says Conservative peer and supermarket boss Stuart Rose
Deal could lead to ‘end of fishing industry’, Farage claims
Minister says deal with EU shows Britain ‘back on world stage’
‘Total capitulation’ – Tories attack deal on fishing, even though it extends concessions originally made by Boris Johnson
Scottish government complains about not being consulted over deal with EU on fishing
Reynolds refuses to deny report saying EU fishing rights in UK waters extended for 12 years under deal
EU fishing rights in UK waters extended for 12 years under deal, BBC reports
Reynolds suggests EU and UK have agreed youth mobility scheme with cap on numbers
Agenda for the day
UK-EU reset deal still not agreed, business secretary says
What could be in the new security and defence pact that is likely to be announced today?
Breakthrough in EU-UK talks
Q: What is your message to Brexit supporters who will view this with suspicion?
Von der Leyen says this will benefit people in Britain. It is “a new beginning for old friends”, she says.
Q; [From Beth Rigby from Sky News] You have given the EU 12-year access to UK fishing waters, and you have agreed a youth mobility scheme that you ruled out last year. Isn’t this backsliding on Brexit.
Starmer says this delivers on all three of his principle: driving down costs, driving up jobs and ensuring control of borders.
He says the Scottish salmon industry has already come out in favour.
Most of those criticising the deal came out against it before they had read a word for the agreement, he says.
Q: Do you accept that what is happening in Gaza is Brexit. Can you say you have done all you can to stop this?
Starmer says the situation in Gaza is intolerable and unacceptable. He says he is working with allies to address his.
Q: Do you view this as the start of further integration?
Von der Leyen echoes what Starmer has just said about the deal being ambitious.
And she says there is “a lot of work still ahead of us”.
She does not really address the question about whether this is the start of further integration.
Costa says this is a new partnership.
Q: [From ITV’s Robert Peston] Isn’t this the worst of all worlds? The UK is again aligned with the EU, but gaining only a twentieth of the economic benefit we lost.
Starmer rejects this. He says this is very good for the country. The deal is “hugely ambitious”, he says.
And the security and defence partnership is important too, he says.
The emissions trading changes will be very welcome for business, he says.
He mentions steel, fish, shellfish, and e-gates, saying for some people that will be what they notice. And the law enforcement measures are important too, he says.
He says it shows that if you focus on “deliverables”, you can make a big difference.
Starmer rejects claim he has sold out fishing sector, saying deal is ‘good for fishing’
The leaders are now taking questions.
Q: [From the BBC’s Chris Mason] Haven’t you sold out the fishing sector?
Starmer says the principles behind today are about bills, jobs and borders. The SPS changes will take away a lot of red tape.
Over 70% of seafood goes to EU. This will help them, he says.
The length of time for the agreement provides stability.
Annual negotiations on fishing would have generated uncertainty.
Shellfish can be sold back into the EU, he says.
He end saying this is “good for fishing”.
Keir Starmer is speaking now. He starts:
Ladies and gentlemen, Britain is back on the world stage, working with our partners, doing deals that will grow our economy and putting more money in the pockets of working people.
In the last two weeks alone, we have delivered trade deals with India and the US, and that means jobs saved jobs, creating more growth and a huge vote of confidence in this country.
And he says today’s deal is a landmark one, a “win-win” for both sides.
It gives us unprecedented access to the EU market, the best of any country outside of the EU or Efta, all while sticking to the red lines in our manifesto about not rejoining the single market, the customs union, and no return to freedom of movement. So this deal is good for both sides.
Starmer says the SPS deal will make food and agricultural trade with the EU easier and cheaper.
After a long absence, it will allow burgers and shellfish and other products to be sold again in the EU.
The defence deal will open up opportunties for the defence manufacturing sector.
Cooperation on emissions trading will spare British firms having to pay £800m on EU carbon taxes, he says.
British steel will be protected from EU tariffs, he says.
Fishing rights are being protected, he claims, and he says there is £360m for the fishing sector.
And travellers will benefit from the change on e-gates, he says.
Von der Leyen says the agreement on SPS rules means “more certainty, more stability for farmers and food producers”.
And the agreement on fishing will mean more “long-term stability and predictability” for the fishing sector.
Von der Leyen says the deal affects people, and the “millions of friendships” between people in the UK and the EU.
She says she is very glad that they have agreed Erasmsus+, and for the a “youth experience scheme”. (See 11.59am.)
Turning to the decision to explore the UK’s participation in the EU’s electricity market. She says:
It’s good for the stability of energy flows. It is good for our common energy security, because we know that a bigger market will also be good for lowering the energy prices, and it will attract more private investment because of the regulatory stability and predictability that is there to tap into the vast potential that the North Sea offers, specifically for renewable, cheap and homegrown energy.
Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, is speaking now.
She says the UK and the EU are “turning the page”.
She says the security and defence partnership covers lots of topics. It will boost defence cooperation, she says.
It is the first step towards the UK’s participation in the EU’s €150bn joint procurement programme.
UK and EU agree to hold regular summits every year
Costa says the UK and the EU are “stronger when we stand together”.
That is the message from today’s summit, he says.
From on, the UK and the EU will hold a summit every year, he says.
At the press conference Costa talks about the areas where the UK and the EU have worked together, particularly supporting Ukraine.
He says the UK and the EU will increase pressure on Russa via a new package of sanctions, to bring Vladimir Putin to the table.
And here is the 11-page text of the defence and security pact agreed today.
Starmer, von der Leyen and Costa hold press conference
The post-summit press conference is starting.
António Costa, the European Council president, goes first,
He says this is the start of a new strategic partnership.
The two sides have worked to rebuild trust, he says.
UK-EU summit deal published
The UK government has published two documents about the deal:
A five-page joint statement
A nine-page common understanding paper
UPDATE: And the third document is on the MoD website.
An 11-page defence and security pact.
Meat industry welcomes deal, saying Labour has achieved ‘what previous government promised originally but didn’t deliver’
The British Meat Processors Association has issued a statement strongly welcoming the deal with the EU. It says that, making access to the EU market easier for meat exporters, Keir Starmer has “managed to achieve what the previous government promised us originally but didn’t deliver”.
The association has also dismissed claims that the deal will mean the UK being a “rule taker” because it will aligned with the EU on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) rules. It says:
A common misunderstanding is that an SPS agreement will mean Britain becomes a ‘rule taker’. In reality, we must comply with the rules of any of our trading partners if we want to export to them – just like America must comply with British rules if they want to send us their products. This means we have been aligned with EU rules and standards all along. The difference this new deal will make is that Britain, unlike their other third country trading partners, will benefit from true, un-fettered access to their market and massively reduced trade friction. It will boost trade and make us more competitive.
Under the existing arrangement we have had to produce a mountain of paperwork to prove we comply, costing business a fortune but with no added value. This extra cost had to be absorbed somewhere in the supply chain, either through lower margins or higher prices, driving food price inflation and rendering UK businesses less competitive.
Starmer says he wants to move on ‘from stale old debates’ of Brexit with EU deal
Keir Starmer has said that today’s deal with the EU is about moving on from “stale old debates” of the past. He said:
It’s time to look forward. To move on from the stale old debates and political fights to find common sense, practical solutions which get the best for the British people.
We’re ready to work with partners if it means we can improve people’s lives here at home.
So that’s what this deal is all about – facing out into the world once again, in the great tradition of this nation. Building the relationships we choose, with the partners we choose, and closing deals in the national interest. Because that is what independent, sovereign nations do.
Starmer is clearly referring to the way the discussion about relations with the EU continues to be framed by supporters of Brexit as a matter of either taking back control or surrendering. (See 11.15am.)
In other contexts, such as in his speech last week on immigration, Starmer is happy to talk about “taking back control”. But, on trade, he does not view negotiations in binary terms. In an interview in the Times published on Saturday, Starmer repeatedly said that he was not interested in “relitigating the arguments of the past”.
Deal with EU will make food cheaper and add £9bn to UK economy, says No 10
Downing Street has published its summary of the deal with the UK, and it claims that it will add almost £9bn to the value of the economy by 2040.
And here is Jessica Elgot’s story.
Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.
A leading marine conservation group has said the row over the length of the EU fisheries deal is artificial and misses key facts about the British fishing industry, since many British trawlers are EU owned and increasingly controlled by very large firms.
Phil Taylor, director of Open Seas, a conservation charity, said:
The debate about the length of the fishing deal and the amount of access granted to EU boats is missing a key point, since some of the biggest UK fishing companies are EU owned, while a number of Scottish boats are still landing more than half their catch directly to the continent.
Despite UK law requiring fishing quota be distributed in ways that incentivise low impact fishing, the rights to most UK fishing quotas are handed freely to businesses. And those rights can be bought and sold, allowing access to this public resource to be consolidated by those with the deepest pockets with very few conditions, such as sustainability measures, put on its use.
Hall said the Scottish government’s complaints it had been ignored by UK ministers (see 8.51am), despite having policy responsibility for fisheries in Scottish waters, were also ironic. The Scottish government was now more than two years late delivering 22 fisheries management plans required after Brexit, he said. He went on:
It’s time that our national fisheries authorities invest the same level of energy in establishing a fairer system to distribute quota and sustainable management of the seas as they invest in the negotiations with the EU over rights of access in the first place.
