fisherman fishing boat

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The Scottish fishing sector has criticised the 12-year deal, claiming it amounts to ‘political and economic betrayal’

The UK and the European Union have announced new deals on fishing quotas and food and drink trade rules on Monday.

The government has reached a 12-year deal that will grant fishing access for EU boats into British waters, with ministers also having nailed down a reduction in checks on food exports to the bloc in return.

Britain has extended EU fishing quotas to 2038 in a breakthrough announcement ahead of a key ‘Brexit reset’ summit between Keir Starmer and high-profile European leaders, including Ursula Von der Leyen and European Council president António Costa, at Lancaster House today.

The government has also secured a deal to reduce sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks on plant and animal goods headed to the EU, also known as the long-awaited vet deal, that will “lower food prices and increase choice on supermarket shelves”, it said in a statement.

The SPS deal will bring EU and UK food standards closer together, meaning there will be no need for most physical checks at the borders, which will reduce trade friction and costs for agrifood businesses.

The government added that “some routine checks on animal and plant products will be removed completely, allowing goods to flow freely again, including between Great Britain and Northern Ireland”.

British businesses shipping to NI have been facing more burdensome controls at so-called ‘Irish sea border’ since Brexit in efforts to prevent the need for a land border between NI and the Republic of Ireland, which is in the EU single market for goods.

The agreement to reduce red tape on British exports would be indefinite and not tied to negotiations over fish, the government said.

”As part of the deal, a new SPS agreement will make it easier for food and drink to be imported and exported by reducing the red tape that placed burdens on businesses and led to lengthy lorry queues at the border. This agreement will have no time limit, giving vital certainty to businesses.”

Northern Ireland’s first minister Michelle O’Neill welcomed news of a deal between the UK and EU, but said “the devil will be in the detail”.

Read more: Brexit reset talks: UK ham and bacon producers set to follow EU regulations

Meanwhile, the UK fishing industry has criticised the fishing agreement announcement, with the the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation deeming it as a ”betrayal” to the sector.

“This deal is a horror show for Scottish fishermen, far worse than Boris Johnson’s botched Brexit agreement,” the trade group’s CEO Elspeth Macdonald said.

”[Any] attempt by either the UK or EU to portray the new deal as a continuation of existing arrangements would be a lie, because in fact the trade and co-operation agreement paved the way for annual access negotiations from 2026.”

While fishing makes up just 0.4% of the UK’s GDP, promises of Britain becoming an “independent coastal state” were a big selling point during the Leave campaign in 2016.

The issue had therefore been a sticking point in Brexit talks for years, with the EU – particularly France and the Netherlands – pushing for an extension to the quotas agreed by the Boris Johnson government after the UK left the bloc, which were due to expire at the end of June next year.

Macdonald also earlier told Good Morning Scotland that the announcement was “an absolutely disastrous outcome for the Scottish fishing fleet” and a “total capitulation to the EU” that lost any leverage the industry could have had via annual negotiations.

The fishing deal announcement has also garnered criticism from right-wing politicians. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said “we’re becoming a rule-taker from Brussels once again”.

It is understood the agreement is just an extension of the conditions agreed by the Tories in 2020.

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice also claimed Starmer “surrendered” and “sold out” the fishing sector.

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds defended the deal while doing the media rounds this morning, telling BBC Breakfast that “there is a big prize here”.

“There have been some breakthroughs and fundamentally it is about making people in this country better off.”

In regards to the SPS agreement, Reynolds said there was “no real reason” British sausages shouldn’t be sold in the EU.

“We’ve got a situation where, after Brexit, we’ve got the same food standards in place on both sides of the border, yet our agricultural food exports are down by a fifth,” the business secretary said.

“We’ve got no real reason for that situation continuing, and, where we can work with our partners, where we can remove costs, where we can remove friction, that means cheaper bills in the long run.”

The EU is the UK’s largest trading partner, but exports to the bloc had slumped by over a fifth since Brexit, the government said.

“The UK will also be able to sell various products, such as burgers and sausages, back into the EU again, supporting these vital British industries”, its statement added.

There will also be “closer co-operation on emissions through linking our respective Emissions Trading Systems will improve the UK’s energy security and avoid businesses being hit by the EU’s carbon tax due to come in next year”, according to the government.

“Combined, the SPS and Emissions Trading Systems linking measures alone are set to add nearly £9bn to the UK economy by 2040,” it claimed.

Marco Forgione, director general of the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade, said today’s summit was “a positive and pragmatic step forward in resetting the UK-EU relationship on more stable terms”.

He noted the proposals “importantly, would also help smooth trade flows between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, reducing complexity for businesses operating across the UK”.

Other big negotiation areas like defence and a potential youth mobility scheme will also be addressed.

“It’s been clear from our conversations with Chartered Institute members and the wider trade community that the proposed youth mobility scheme, alignment on SPS standards, and progress on emissions trading are all areas where businesses stand to benefit directly”, Forgione said, citing the institute’s estimates that ”closer, more frictionless relationship could add £40bn-60bn to UK GDP over the course of this Parliament”.

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