UK signs new agreement with EU including reduced red tape for food imports and exports
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Posted: Mon 19th May 2025
The UK government has secured a new deal with the European Union aimed at "resetting" post-Brexit relations.
Following six months of discussions, the deal includes reductions in sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks on food and drink imports and exports to make it easier for UK businesses to sell products, such as raw burgers and sausages, in the EU.
Some routine checks on animal and plant products will be removed completely, including between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
This part of the agreement has no time limit, which the government says gives "vital certainty to businesses".
The UK and EU have reached a new 12 year agreement on fishing access, fishing rights and fishing areas. The UK government says there will be no increase in the amount of fish EU vessels can catch in British waters. A new £360 million UK fund to "back coastal communities" will also be announced.
The UK and the EU have agreed to co-operate further on a youth experience scheme, which could see UK young people able to work and travel freely in Europe again. The government said the new scheme would be capped and time-limited, and mirror existing schemes the UK has with countries like Australia and New Zealand.
Other parts of the agreements include:
British travellers will be able to use more e-gates at passport control in European airports.
A new security and defence partnership which allows the UK to participate in the EU's proposed new £150 billion Security Action for Europe (SAFE) defence fund.
The UK and EU will link carbon markets to avoid UK businesses being hit by the EU's carbon tax due to come in next year. The government says the taxes would have totalled £800 million.
British steel exports will be protected from new EU rules and tariffs, which the government says will save UK steel £25 million per year.
'Pet passports' will be introduced for UK cats and dogs, eliminating the need for animal health certificates for every trip.
The EU and the UK will discuss the UK rejoining the Erasmus student exchange programme.
There will be talks on UK access to EU facial images data to help catch dangerous criminals.
The UK and the EU will explore the UK's participation in the EU's internal electricity market.
There will be discussions on finding solutions to tackle illegal migration, including tackling Channel crossings.
Talks will take place on making it easier for people to get visas to work in the UK and the EU and recognising professional qualifications.
The government claims that the SPS and carbon agreements will add around £9 billion to the UK economy by 2040.
Prime minister Keir Starmer, who is hosting EU leaders at a summit in London today, 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."
Polly Dhaliwal, COO of Enterprise Nation, said:
"We welcome the ambition to reset the trading relationship between the UK and the EU. Small businesses need long-term stability to have the confidence to invest in overseas trading relationships.
"We hope this agreement will provide a supportive framework to help SMEs expand their global trading outlook, while keeping the costs of doing so low."
Craig Johnstone was sales director at a UK beer and cider exporter, and now runs beverage export sales consultancy Cheers Global. He said:
"With eight years of hands-on experience exporting to the EU, I've worked through both the relatively streamlined pre-Brexit environment and the more complex regulatory landscape that followed. The newly agreed UK-EU trade deal represents a welcome shift for exporters like myself and the British drinks suppliers I work with.
"This agreement is designed to reduce red tape, lower regulatory barriers, and eliminate many of the routine checks that have slowed or complicated trade in recent years. In practical terms, this means a more efficient flow of goods, fewer delays at borders, simplified documentation requirements, and lower compliance costs for businesses.
"For UK suppliers, this not only reduces the administrative burden but also helps restore access to key EU markets that had become more challenging to navigate post-Brexit. For example, exporting British beverages to Spain became significantly more complex due to revised customs expectations around product ingredients and detailed analysis requirements.
"By addressing these kinds of barriers, the new agreement creates a more commercially viable trading environment that is essential for driving export growth."
Giuseppe Gallo, founder and CEO of spirits brand Italicus, said:
"With three limited companies in the UK and a distillery in Italy, the impact of Brexit on our business has been massive, and a few years later, we can still not quantify the negative financial downside.
"In 2021, the UK left the EU single market without providing any guidelines, support, or plan on how to manage imports and exports to and from the EU.
"Due to the uncertain environment, we have been facing enormous challenges: additional checks at customs, new regulations, updated label information, and a raised duty are only a few of the immediate challenges that cost our business enormously. Considering that happened on the tail of the pandemic, it was very much avoidable!
"Above all, we had to open a new company in the EU to export from the Italian distillery, move resources to the EU, and slowly disinvest from the UK HQ.
"For decades, the UK and London have been the most efficient hubs in the world for building a global business. I am still amazed at how we could ruin everything in such a short time.
"The recent announcement of a new trade relationship between the UK and the EU is very welcome. Still, without further improvement, offsetting the damage caused by Brexit to our UK businesses will not be sufficient."
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