Starmer sets his sights on new Brexit deal with EU

Keir Starmer traveled to Brussels this week for the first time since becoming the UK’s prime minister in July, to meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In the coming months there might be a once-in-a-decade window of opportunity for a significant renegotiation of the 2020 UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement — but there are many potential pitfalls to avoid, too.

The stakes are high. A new, more constructive UK-EU partnership might bring benefits for both sides, especially given the possibility of a second Trump presidency in the US during a time of global geopolitical flux.
In the three months since taking power Starmer has met several key European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

As he seeks to reshape British relations with the 27-member EU, more than four years after the UK formally left the bloc, he said: “I want to ensure that we’ve got a closer trading relationship if we can … I’m not going to pretend it’s easy but I think it’s possible. This is the beginning of quite a long process.”
While the specifics of upcoming renegotiations are not yet fully clear, there are some key building blocks on the government’s agenda. They do not, however, include any possibility of rejoining either the European single market or the Customs Union, both of which Starmer has ruled out.
Key elements of a potential new deal might include the UK signing up to the so-called Brussels “rule book” in certain sectors, including chemicals. This would result in closer alignment with EU regulations.

Companies involved in the trade in chemicals in and between the UK and the EU would benefit from closer regulatory alignment because it would mean fewer differences in safety standards, for example. Since Brexit, the EU has added more than 30 chemicals to its list of “Substances of Very High Concern.” The UK has not added any, leading to differing regulatory requirements. This divergence means separate product registrations and compliance processes are required in each market.
Greater alignment would eliminate the need for duplicate registrations and streamline regulatory compliance, yielding a more harmonized approach to safety regulations.
Therefore the new UK government might be agreeable to being more of a rule-taker than rule-maker in certain well-established industries. However, it will prefer to retain more post-Brexit regulatory flexibility in relation to emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Another building block that might be part of a revised deal is a so-called “veterinary agreement” to reduce the trade barriers on agrifoods. There is also the possibility of greater mutual recognition of professional qualifications, given the benefits this could bring in various sectors, including financial services.
Beyond these issues, one of the huge omissions from the 2020 Brexit deal was the lack of any agreement on issues that extend beyond European borders, such as defense and security. Starmer has said that this “needs to be done and can be done in a closer relationship with the EU,” especially given the continuing war in Ukraine.