The Lead Untangles: What might the Brexit reset summit mean for Britain
Fishing, food standards, defence and more will be on the agenda next week when Keir Starmer hosts European leaders.
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At a glance facts
Next Monday, Keir Starmer will be hosting EU leaders for the inaugural post-Brexit summit. Touted as the ‘Brexit reset summit’, the meeting is expected to focus on defence and security, fishing rights, food standards, migration, mutual recognition of qualifications (which allows professionals qualified in one country to practise in another) and energy cooperation.
As Starmer last week struck landmark trade deals with both the US and India, it will be interesting to see where trade falls on the agenda. The general consensus is that leaving the EU has had a negative impact on trade, with the benefits from new trade agreements not yet outweighing the drawbacks of leaving the EU.
Context: What’s happened to trade post-Brexit?
Trade in goods has been under pressure since we left the EU because of increases in non-tariff barriers and successive shocks affecting trade globally.
Since 2019, the UK has seen a drop in goods exports to both the EU and non-EU countries. Last year, goods exports to the EU were 18 per cent below their real terms 2019 level, while goods experts to non-EU countries were down 14 per cent.
Despite securing a free trade deal with the EU (meaning no tariffs on imported or exported goods), non-tariff barriers such as complicated paperwork and other red tape means small businesses in particular have been negatively affected.
The UK also struggled to diversify its trade portfolio since Brexit, due to several global challenges, leading to sluggish growth in exports and imports of goods from non-EU countries.
However, services – for example, the financial, creative, travel and IT sectors – have actually grown. Last year, UK exports of services to the EU were 19 per cent above their 2019 level in real terms and exports to non-EU countries were up 23 per cent.
Since Brexit, the UK has been able to secure new bilateral trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand — which removed tariffs on a wide range of goods — and, more recently, India (a rapidly growing economy), which saw a reduction on tariffs on imports of clothing and footwear, cars, food, jewellery and gems. Agreements with countries such as Canada, Japan, Iceland, Switzerland and many others also rolled over from previous EU agreements.
More recently, the UK struck a trade deal with the US as President Trump’s global trade war rattled governments and markets the world over. Namely, the US tariffs on cars were immediately lowered from 27.5 to 10 per cent, with steel and aluminium reduced to zero, while UK farmers were given new reciprocal market access on beef with no weakening of UK food standards on imports. Tariffs of 10 per cent will remain on most other UK goods into the US. Some critics (such as the shadow home secretary Chris Philp MP) say it is “not a comprehensive trade deal”.
Not to mention, trade agreements have been long and drawn-out. The India agreement, for instance, took three years to materialise and the UK is almost three years deep into negotiations with the Gulf countries. The US deal has been years in the making, with food safety standards proving a major sticking point, as well as, to a lesser extent, differences in regulations regarding pharmaceuticals and intellectual property rights.
What is the left saying?
Ellie Chowns, Green MP for North Herefordshire, said: “Brexiteers promised freedom but delivered decline. Five years on, British families, farmers and firms are paying the price of isolation. At the summit next week, Ministers must choose progress over pride: we must work to re-join the Customs Union, restore the right to live, work and study across Europe, and rebuild the networks that keep Britain secure and prosperous.”
Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats said: “We must repair the trading relationship with our neighbours that was so badly ruined under the Conservatives. Their deal has been an utter disaster for our country – for farmers, fishers and small businesses – caught up in red tape.
“So far, the Labour Government has failed to show the urgency and ambition needed to fix our relationship with Europe. Ministers must be in a parallel universe if they think we can grow the economy without boosting trade with our nearest neighbours.
“A new UK-EU customs union deal will unlock growth, demonstrate British leadership and give us the best possible hand to play against President Trump.”
What is the right saying?
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: “We can improve our relationship with European countries, but not by being a supplicant. Keir Starmer seems willing to give up our fish to the French and to pay to be allowed to be part of a defence pact.
“He forgets Britain is Europe’s prime military power and we led the way in supporting Ukraine. We should be working through Nato with our allies on the continent, not seeing our citizens pushed to the back of a passport queue because Eurocrats in Brussels have had a 10-year tantrum over Brexit.”
Reform UK MP for Ashfield Lee Anderson said Brexit has “rested our ability to strike independent trade deals” and it “strengthens international relationships and enhances our standing on the global stage… Only Reform UK will ensure we capitalise on the full range of opportunities that Brexit has unleashed.”
What comes next?
As part of the summit, the EU is expected to ask for dynamic alignment with its Sanitary and Phytosanitary rules, (trade regulations designed to protect human, animal, and plant life and health) potentially involving a role for the European Court of Justice to resolve disputes and clarify the meaning of EU laws.
Whatever the outcome of the summit for those heading on holiday, doing business, ordering online from European providers, living in the EU (hello Brits in Spain) or changing up their travel money then deals done with the European Union affect the pounds, or Euros, in your pocket - even if they appear to be a very bland line in a technical document. It’s often those which can end up costing the most.
Labour appears more willing than the previous government to engage, choosing market access over increased autonomy. ■
About The Lead Untangles: In an era where misinformation is actively and deliberately used by elected politicians and where advocates and opposers of beliefs state their point of view as fact, sometimes the most useful tool reporters have is to help readers make sense of the world.
The Lead Untangles is delivered each Friday by The Lead and focuses on a different complex, divisive issue with each edition. If there’s something you think we should be untangling, then contact ed@thelead.uk.
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About the author: Ella is a freelance journalist specialising in worker's rights, housing, youth culture, social affairs and lifestyle. You can find her work in Tribune Magazine, Huck Magazine, Novara Media, VICE, Dazed, metro.co.uk and - most importantly - here at The Lead.